The 8th Sin
by TyrantFlame
Summary: Title says all. No memory of a name, a home or even an existence, the 8th Sin now brings chaos to the world... CHAPTER 22 now up.
1. Freesia

The 8th Sin

-Curious-

My first FMA fic. :-) Nothing much to say here, just that standard disclaimers apply and the only things I own is my own OCs, my own homunculus, this story itself, the plot and the hope of having someone read this. O-O;

This is my third project running at the same time with my S-CRY-ed and digimon fics. I've had this idea for a LONG time, ever since I got hooked onto Greed... (Heck, WHO wouldn't!) But that doesn't mean this story has any pairings into it... YET! O-O

So, I hope you all appreciate my story, and I really, really hope you'd drop a review and tell me what you think of this story, correct my inaccuracy and all that, please. -.-; It's the only way this story is EVER going to sound better than my previous other hand-written drafts...

By the way, I haven't been watching FMA long enough so I've been meaning to ask; what's the Ourobus (did I spell that right?) tattoo for?

Please read and review!

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-OC POV-

Who am I? Where do I come from? What am I?

These three questions never leave my head every time I sit in the small library down the street in this little place called Dublith. As far as I remember, (unfortunately for me, my memory only extends to a week ago… -.- ;;) I have no relatives whatsoever, no recollection of who I was, where I was from and I had no sense of responsibility at all.

All I know is that I just want to live. As to what am I, I noticed that all the people living around me take a day or two to recover from a cut or something but all it takes for me is a few seconds. Other people think I'm some sort of monster, but the pair who took me in as their own child just saw me as special.

The man who I now call 'dad' works as a local alchemist. The word rings a bell somewhere, but my poor memory just doesn't reveal anything much about it. He's not very talented, but he's struggling to perfect his skills and dreams of being a State Alchemist.

The woman I call 'mom' however, was a miracle worker. We were kind of poor financially, having no money to buy food on some occasions. It doesn't happen very often, but mom still had the time to teach me lots of stuff even through all the part-time jobs and all the chores she had to do.

They were almost never home, save for dinner-time, the only meal-time of the day where I get to see the two of them on the same table. So, all day I'm simply just alone. It gets kind of sickening, but I was used to it. It's been a week, after all. I spend my days in this little library, just passing time and flipping through book after book, not caring what genre or what topic they were written on, I just chose one at random and basically absorbed everything in it.

Occasionally, I'd get hungry more than I usually do, so I'd wander around the corner and visit a small café hat serves nice cakes and biscuits. The lady who owns the store was exceptionally nice to me, unlike all those other people who see me as a monster. She often lets me have extras and sometimes, even gives me cakes for free. 'It's on the house,' she'd say.

"Hi auntie Lieza!" I called, walking into the café. The aged woman in front of me smiled sweetly at me and said,

"Why hello there, Freesia. How are you?"

'Freesia'. I liked that name. I never had one that I remembered of, so my 'parents' gave me that name, telling me that it was a flower that symbolized innocence, trust and friendship.

Well, I for one do know that I'm plenty friendly and plenty trustworthy, but I'm not really sure about the 'innocence' part, "Just fine, auntie. Anyway, do you still have those apple pies for sale? I'm pretty hungry," speaking of which, I get hungry so often and eat quite a lot and yet I don't gain weight like other people do! Well, I'm not sure if it's a gift or a curse, but I sure do enjoy having it handy...

Aunt Lieza smiled at me and asked me to sit at the table, which I complied to gleefully. I looked at the book in my hands, the one that I'd borrowed from the library earlier on titled 'Alchemy and its origins'. As I said, I just pick any book at random, whichever appeals to me. It so happened that this one caught my eye.

Being able to change something into another object via a formula and a circle… fascinating. I opened the book up to where I left it off and pulled my black jacket around me tighter as a cold gust of wind blew past me. Yep, autumn was coming pretty quickly this year. Looking up, a man caught my eye. He just walked past me casually, but something about him had an air of familiarity to it...

The way he walked, the way he puts his hands into his pant's pockets, the way he dressed... Then there were his eyes. They may have been hidden behind those round shades, but I could see a glimpse of them before he vanished into the crowd. His eyes were just like mine...

My eyes weren't like ordinary people. Sure, they had basically the same physical attributes like the shape and all, but I had more of a cat's slitted pupil than a human being's normal circle. And my eye color wasn't exactly what people would call normal. They were a pinkish shade of violet. I had half a mind to go after him until Aunt Lieza cam by with a plate of her apple pie.

Now, my stomach wasn't really helping me... I just remembered that I was hungry. I looked in the direction where the man walked past and could see him no longer. Letting out a half-disappointed sigh, I closed the book I was reading and Aunt Lieza said to me,

"What's the matter, Freesia? You look down," she put the plate down in front of me and took a seat next to me, placing one hand on my shoulder, worry marring her already wrinkled face.

I smiled at her and said, "It's nothing. I was just daydreaming," I lied through my teeth and decided to vent out my guilt on Aunt Lieza's apple pie.

At the end of the day, I ate for free, again, and was on my way home when I remembered that I had to pick up some meat from the butcher's so we could make some stew tonight. It didn't take me long to pick the package up and when I walked outside in a rush, I bumped into someone and knocked the two of us over, making me drop my book and the meat.

I rubbed my elbows, where I'd skinned myself and thanked God I had supernatural healing abilities as my wounds closed almost immediately. The person in front of me sat up, rubbing his head with his free hand as the other was rubbing his ribs where I'd accidentally bowled him over with my shoulder and then I said,

"Sorry! I really didn't see you there! Are you hurt?" he looked up at me and my heart leapt to my throat. His skin was very pale, as if he's never been under the sun before, his dark purple hair framed his face very nicely and he had the most beautiful pair of greenish-blue eyes I have ever seen.

He stood up, towering over me and mumbling an almost inaudible, "I'm fine" before I noticed something unusual about this man; he had a pair of black wings folded behind his back. I was, needless to say, dumbstruck. He held out a hand to me and I accepted it as he helped me up,

"Thank you. I'm sorry about knocking you over..." I apologized again and looked down at my feet. He looked at me in a somewhat sympathetic way and smiled,

"It's alright. I wasn't exactly looking where I was going, either," he said gently. God, his soft-spoken nature can easily make me mistaken him for a woman... But, nevertheless, he WAS good-looking... Hey, wait a minute! Blue uniform. Where have I seen that before...?

I was almost afraid to ask, but I asked anyway, "Are you... from the military?"

He looked at me with a look that clearly said 'What does it look like?' and replied, "Yes I am. My name is Aizawa Rin. Is there something wrong?"

I didn't stop to listen to the rest of his story. I ran as if he were a mass murderer on the loose. Something about his being in the military scared me. Almost as if something that was buried deep inside me just suddenly reared a particularly ugly head. I was never sure why, but any mention of the military have always scared me. It made me feel insecure... I kind of wished I never knew his name, because it made me feel even more insecure, as opposed to that feeling of familiarity on that total stranger who passed me by this morning...

Then I felt something strange inside... A need to get rid of him. It felt as if I was supposed to remove him from the face of this earth. That voice in the back of my head chanted, 'Get rid of him, kill him, make him disappear!' over and over again like a mantra. It vanished the moment he was out of sight, which was when I found myself breathing heavily in front of my adopted parents' house. I was going to knock on the door when something struck me; I forgot to pick up the package of meat...

God! How much worse can my luck get! In a fit of rage, I didn't realize that I'd swung my leg at the door. A split second before I kicked it, I tried to stop myself, not wanting to startle my parents and for some reason, a strange feeling swept over me before I found myself falling on the floor of my warm little house, face-first. My mother must have dropped one of her plates because I heard it shatter to a million pieces before she came by and asked,

"Freesia? Where were you? We were worried that you'd gotten yourself lost in another one of those books you were always reading," she helped me up and I was even more confused; how did I get in? "And if you don't mind, next time you come into the house, do knock. I didn't hear you coming!"

She didn't? With that awful creaking noise the door always made, I wasn't very sure if anyone could not notice the scraping sound it made, "Freesia, are you alright?" my mother asked again, waving her hand in front of my face. I snapped out of my trance and replied,

"Yeah, I'm alright mom! No need to worry," I smiled at her and picked myself off the ground, "Oh, about the meat..." I suddenly remembered. Before I got to speak, my mother shushed me,

"Your father's bringing home some of your Aunt Lieza's cooking. No need to worry about tonight's dinner, dear," Yep, good ol' mom. Always has a back-up plan for **_EVERYTHING._**

"Well, before dad comes home, I'll be taking a nap. I'm kind of tired," I said flatly, retreating to my room as I heard my mother reminding me to clean up later. I just hollered a reply before plopping down on my warm bed.

A scary thought struck me when I recalled the event earlier on; did I just walk **_THROUGH_** the door? I dismissed the thought seconds later. That was impossible. I'm no alchemist, unlike my parents, so I shouldn't be able to do all those fancy stuff. I must've just imagined that.

I drifted off to sleep, but not after seeing a shadow that swept past my bedroom window, which scared the daylights out of me and made me force myself to sleep...

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Not a very good start, is it:P Do tell me if there's anything for me to correct, like facts or something like that. Oh, Freesia and Aizawa Rin belong to me. :)

Let's see... what was I going to say again? Oh yes. I'll give you guys three guesses who the stranger who caught her eyes was.

(Reader start throwing sharp and pain-inducing items at my head.)

Ow!

Readers: That's like so obvious!

Well, can't blame a girl for trying to make people guess...

Please R&R!


	2. Midnight meeting

The 8th Sin

-Accidents happen-

Hey, surprisingly, I'm still writing. O-O Even more surprising; I got more than 2 reviews. O-O You guys are so nice! (Bursts into tears of joy) Anyway, about having only 7 deadly sins, I knew that actually. Freesia isn't COMPLETELY a sin. She's only considered one because of her company. :P Check my profile for her details. It contains spoilers though so unless you don't want to spoil yourself, stay tuned for more of this story.

Author's note: I'm writing the first and second chapter via my OC's POVs because it may give you all a better idea on what they're supposed to do and what roles they play.

Author's note 2: Another OC WILL be in. I'm working on the EnvyOC request. :3

Anyway, here's chapter 2. I hope you like it!

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-Rin POV-

This was just great... I was sent all the way to Dublith just to send a message for the Elric brothers. Hey, just because I have wings doesn't mean I use them to fly all the time! I took the train here since it was hot, and I loathe having sunburns... So here I was, just walking around looking for the traveling duo. Where to start looking? No clue. If only Colonel Mustang would at least give me their exact locations and their 'most-likely-to-be' places, this would have been a piece of cake.

Obviously, I was wrong. Dublith in itself wasn't so small, but it wasn't as small as I had imagined either! I actually got lost! The crowd made it hard for me to look and having kids pull at my feathers every once in a while wasn't making it any easier on me.

So I decided to stay somewhere shady. There was a quiet library that I found, so I just stuck around there, flipping through a few alchemy books. A girl who passed by my table saw one of the books that I put in front of me and picked one of them up. It's either she totally didn't notice me or she didn't bother noticing, but she just went off a few minutes later, with the book I was going to borrow. (Sigh...) Life is tough...

Later that evening, I went out. It was a lot cooler and the crowd was a lot thinner so I thought it would make my search all the more easier. Again, I was wrong. I totally forgot the fact that they may not even be in town, but I guess I should start looking for this meat shop Colonel Mustang suggested me to check.

I just went down the road until I found the unmistakable shop. I looked at it and then looked around. The shop in front of me was rather run-down and I wasn't exactly sure if anyone actually lived there...

I looked around again, hoping to see another meat shop not too far away, but as I did so, I felt something ram hard into my ribs as I was thrown off balance and I could hear my assailant let out a startled 'Eep!' before we both fell on the ground. This wasn't my day... I'd bumped my head pretty hard on the solid ground and I could've sworn there were stars in front of my eyes...

My hand flew to my injury immediately and I felt for any fractures. None. Good... My assailant was a girl. How I knew? She asked me if I was alright, "I'm fine..." I mumbled (my head was spinning...) and picked myself up off the ground. I offered her a hand, where I noticed that her cheeks took on a shade of light pink. Great... another fan girl to add to the growing mob in Central...

She apologized again, which made her look pathetic. Oh well, since she didn't mean it, what's with forgiving her? "It's alright. I wasn't exactly looking where I was going, either," if that would make her feel less guilty, then I guess it was worth saying.

The moment her eyes fell on my uniform, she looked afraid. Too afraid for my tastes, "Are you... from the military?" she asked me. Now what kind of a question was that? I told her that I was, introducing myself to her and asked her if something was wrong.

What she did next surprised me; as soon as she knew where I was from and what my name was, she ran away, leaving her book and the meat package she was holding on the ground, "Hey, wait!" I called, picking the two objects on the ground in a hurry and tried to follow her. She was surprisingly fast and within minutes, she lost me.

I panted for breath and leant on a cold building's wall, clutching the book and package in my hands. Oh well, I may as well try again tomorrow. She's bound to come looking for these two anyway. I looked down at the book and my eyes widened. 'Alchemy and its origins'. It was one of the books I had in front of me back in the library. She must have been that girl who took the book without noticing me at all!

Sighing, I decided to just go back to the meat store. Upon entering, I was greeted by a large man standing behind the counter, his menacing face unshaven (which gave me the impression that if the full moon was out, he'd turn to a werewolf...) and was holding a butcher's knife as he was about to retreat to the back room.

"Mr. Sig Curtis?" I asked, stepping up to the counter. The burly-built man turned to look at me over his shoulder, throwing me a look that obviously read, "What do you want?" I pulled out a slightly crumpled envelope from my pocket and said, "I'm here to see the Elric brothers. Are they in?"

He didn't reply immediately. A few seconds later, a slim, slender and pale woman with dreadlocks came out of the back room and was going to say something when she saw me. She frowned when she saw my uniform and her eyebrows knitted further when she saw my wings. Hey, it wasn't my fault that I was born of a chimera father and a human mother!

"Mrs. Izumi Curtis," I said politely, nodding at her in acknowledgement.

"What do you want?" she asked calmly, realizing that I wasn't a threat.

I looked at the slightly ajar door of the back room and after failing to see what was inside, I said, "I'm sent here by Colonel Roy Mustang. He asked me to pass a message to the Elric brothers," I held the envelope up for the pair to see. It clearly had the Central's stamp on it and Roy Mustang's unmistakable handwriting so within minutes; I was invited inside to the back room.

I looked around. The room was quite spacious and at a table nearby, my two 'targets' were sitting there. As I was told, there was a short, blonde boy with golden eyes, clad entirely in black save for the white gloves he donned and a bluish-green armor as his traveling companion.

The young alchemist was eating at that time, and his companion (I was informed that the metal armor was in fact his younger brother...) was polishing his... head. I nodded at them like I usually do when I greet people and approached the two at the table, though I did not sit down.

"Good evening. I am Aizawa Rin, Seraphic Fury Alchemist from Central. You must be Edward Elric," I said flatly, looking down at the seated boy. He looked up at me with a hard, cold stare and said,

"That would be me. Do you have any business with me?" once again, I produced the envelope and placed it on the table where his hands could reach,

"I'm merely a messenger. Colonel Mustang asked me to send you this," the blonde boy snatched the envelope as if I was going to take it back if he didn't reach out for it and simply ripped the envelope open and skimmed through the letter. I didn't bother asking what was written in the letter. It was none of my business and all I wanted to do now was just go back to Central.

Edward ripped the letter to several pieces shortly afterwards. He must have been offended somehow... I wasn't one to butt into another person's business, but I asked anyway, "Did something displease you?"

He looked up at me lazily and simply replied by saying, "It's nothing... He just wanted us to stay put here, saying that it'd be dangerous for us to go around for now."

That's the Colonel for you... "We do have our own problems in Central... What with that chimera-controlling alchemist we've been hearing about..."All eyes were on me when I said that. I should NOT have said that...

/End of POV/

Freesia woke up at around midnight, "Oh no, I've overslept!" she cried to herself, getting out of bed in a hurry and managing to stumble on one of the pieces of junk she enjoyed collecting and fell flat on her face, "Ow...!" she held her nose, which bled for a minute before it subsided. Picking herself up off the floor, she hurriedly went to the dining room only to find her share of dinner covered and ready to eat, in case she got hungry. There was a note attached to one of the bowls and squinting in the dark, she could make out the words, 'I don't want you to go to the library until you clear up all your toys, sweep the floor, wash the dishes and do the laundry! You were sleeping like a log! _Mum_'

Great, just brilliant... she didn't wake up after all. Speaking of waking up from sleeping, her mother often told her that she had dreams at night. How come she doesn't? It doesn't bother her much since all she cared about was fill her stomach for the time being. After that, she quickly went back to her room and cleared up her things, just as her mother asked her to and did the rest of the chores at top speed before taking a shower (it was cold, but she didn't care...) and dressed herself in a tight purple tank top teamed with a pair of dark green pants.

She reached for her favorite jacket and noticed something on her for the first time. There was a red mark on her right shoulder. She took a good look at it and decided that it was her 'birthmark' as her mother would say. It was quite an odd birthmark though. It took the shape of a dragon going in a circle and seemingly eating it's own tail with something that looked disturbingly like the star of David in the middle.

She didn't go pondering very long. She slipped her jacket on and went outside. The cold has always been her best friend, though her body didn't favor it very much...

It was nice and cold outside with a gentle breeze blowing her long hair out of her face. She walked past a shop that sold clocks and saw that it was only 12.30 in the morning. To her, staying up wasn't a problem. She doesn't need much sleep, even though she'd tired herself out completely. A few hours of rest always did the trick. Just then, a lost-looking little puppy came up to her, whimpering and rubbing its head against her leg.

She looked down in surprise and smiled at the little animal, kneeling down to pet it, "You scared me there, little guy... What are you doing here all alone?" She had a really strong urge to keep the little thing for herself, but refrained from doing so. Her father wouldn't hear of it.

At one point, she thought she could hear something move past her at high speed. It sent chills down her spine as she looked around and saw no one. She stood up, a bit shakily and asked to no one in particular, "Who... Who's there?"

It could have just been her imagination, but she could have sworn she heard something. When she checked, she was relieved to know that it was just a piece of newspaper. As she calmed herself down, a strong hand clamped down on her shoulder and that made her scream.

Another hand clamped itself over her mouth, muffling her shriek. A voice shushed her from behind and it was the unmistakable voice of a man, "Shush... You wanna wake the whole town up or something?"

She broke free of the man's grip and turned around, ready to lash out at any given time. Her eyes widened when she saw who it was, "It's you..."

The man raised an eyebrow at her, "I don't think I remember meeting you," he said coolly, jamming his hands into his pockets.

Freesia looked at the tall man from top to bottom. Yep, something about him really was familiar. He was dressed in the same sleeveless, fur-collared jacket she saw him wear yesterday, the same pair of black leather pants and the same pair of pointed shoes, with the exception of his missing round sunglasses. (Who'd wear sunglasses at midnight? O-O)

"Well, I'm not too sure myself, but I feel like I've seen you somewhere..." she crossed her arms over her chest, pondered some more and came up with nothing. Instead, the man went and asked,

"What the heck is a girl like you doing out here at this hour?"

"I should say the same to you. You scared the daylights out of me!" she cried, picking up the barking little puppy near her feet and hugging it possessively. She looked into his eyes this time, and got that déjà vu feeling all over again, "Hey, uh... I know this is kind of sudden, but... if I know your name, it may jog my memory."

He smirked at her, chuckling to himself, "What, you interested?"

Freesia blushed beet red, "It's not like that! I'm just trying to confirm my own doubts, okay? It's something I can't explain!" she said defensively, frowning at the taller man before her.

Obviously, he wasn't following. The blank look on his face made her feel like beating him to a pulp, which was exactly what she had in mind as a first impulse. Again, she refrained herself from doing so and turned around, giving her back to him, "Alright, fine! So you don't want to tell me your name. You're wearing something sleeveless out here in the cold so maybe you should go and..." she was cut short when the man behind her spoke up,

"Greed."

She spun around when she heard him speak. He gave her a toothy smirk and repeated himself at the sight of her bewildered face,

"Just call me Greed."

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Okay, I admit. That was kinda crappy for a chapter… -.-;; Man, I really need to cut down on the number of words. Any objections from the audiences? Do you think I should cut down on the words in case this amount is hurting your eyes?

Freesia: Suggestions, opinions and most of all, reviews are most welcome. Critiques or flames will be taken really hard as we are very sensitive women... :(

Anyway, that's all I have because I'm awfully tired out from school... Please drop a review if you have something to say about this chapter. Reviews pump ideas into my head. :)


	3. Chimera Tamer

The 8th Sin

-Chimera-Tamer-

Yay! Response:) Response is always good in a story. Okay, I'll keep around the 2k words range. Here in this chapter, I'll be introducing a new OC who will be here to stay. :)

On with the story then! I haven't updated my profile, so I haven't got much to say about this OC.

Please read and review!

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Freesia froze at the mention of the man's name. It somehow clicked something in the back of her head, but it just wouldn't come to the surface... Instead, it came out the wrong way, "...Greed... What kind of a name is that?"

Her companion didn't look the least surprised at her response. He replied shortly after that by saying, "Well, mind _gracing_ me with yours? It's a bit unfair for me to tell you my name and you not telling yours."

"An exchange of equal values, huh? Are you an alchemist?" she said a bit too straightforwardly, actually making her look dumb in the process.

Greed shook his head, a smirk still playing on the corners of his mouth, "Unfortunately, not."

She shrugged, "Pity. Anyway, my name's Freesia. Nice to meet you," she said, smiling sweetly at the taller man before her.

"Likewise. So tell me, what kind of a name is 'Freesia'?" he asked innocently, obviously teasing her. If it wasn't because of the darkness, she could have been able to see the look in his eyes, all giddy with glee.

She huffed and turned away, "I don't need to answer that. All I know is that it's a good name, it's MY name, and I like it very much. So there," she stuck her tongue out playfully at him, the little puppy she's been cradling in her arms appearing to do the same. The puppy doesn't seem to like Greed very much, but it seemed pretty much the contrary with Freesia. She somehow felt safe with him, secure. As if she can just stick around him without having to worry about anything else.

Greed shivered slightly as another cold breeze blew past them. He never did like the cold, neither did he do well in it and now certainly wasn't a good time to start liking it, "Well, I guess I'll be off now. You ought to go back where you came from yourself," he said curtly, removing his hands from his pockets only to gather his jacket around himself, though it didn't help much in keeping him warm as his arms were completely exposed to the chill. He turned around and was about to walk away when Freesia called out to him,

"Hey, wait!" he didn't stop. He just went on and before he knew it, she was walking in stride with him, "Do you mind if I join you?" his was asked on purpose; she didn't want to lose that feeling of security just yet.

The dark-haired man threw her a sideways glance, "I won't be held responsible if your parents get mad at you."

Freesia smiled, shaking her head, "They won't. They know this is my morning routine. Besides, they're barely home, so I spend most of the day wandering around. You're the first person who actually comes out and talks to me at this hour and that makes me feel kind of special, in a sense," she said a bit vaguely, earning a confused look from the older man beside her.

They reached a kind of 'secluded' place in town, in a bar known as the 'Devil's Nest'. It was pretty much empty in there, save for a few drunkards asleep at the counter, beer bottles of their cups sitting mere inches away from their faces.

Freesia was busying herself with the sights as she has never entered a bar before that she actually missed Greed passing by her. Now she was all alone, in a quiet bar with only her new pet puppy for company. (She decided that she wanted to keep it, no matter what her father says!)

"Greed...? Where are you...?" now she was feeling kind of scared. Being in a place full of people she didn't know was creeping her out. Her puppy wriggled out of her grip and sniffed around before padding off into one of the rooms, "Ah! Shu! (It means 'curse') Come back here!" she cried quietly, following the little black-furred creature as quietly as she could and at the same time, trying to grab the little critter.

By the time she got a hold of her pet, she found herself in a... kitchen. Shu barked once and Freesia had to force his mouth shut to prevent from waking everyone in the vicinity, "Alright wise guy, one more bark out of you in this place and I'll be sure not to give in to cuteness the next time I see you," Freesia said, to her dog and that made Shu whimper.

Greed was in the same room, leaning against one of the counters and having some alcohol with the hopes that it would warm him up. He'd heard her talking to her dog and was smiling at her, in a way that made Freesia sure that it wasn't genuine, "That dog can bark all it wants and barely wake anyone in the lobby up front. The only light-sleepers in this place are sleeping in the back."

"Do you come here often?" his companion asked, putting Shu down on the ground. Greed chuckled,

"I own this place."

Freesia let out an 'oh' before starting to feel a bit hot. The place may be small, but it was plenty warm, "I know I quite like the heat, but the temperature in here's close to cooking me," she said with a giggle and removed her jacket, folding it in half and placing it on a nearby table. She didn't notice Greed watching her the whole time and was surprised when he grabbed her right wrist, "Greed?"

He was frowning at something on her arm. She followed his gaze and found that it landed on her 'birthmark', "It looks odd, doesn't it?"

"Odd? That's an understatement. You do know what this mark means, don't you?" Greed growled, not releasing his grip on her.

The pressure he was exerting on her was on the point that it was painful now, "Greed, stop! That hurts!" She tried wrenching her hand out of his grip, but to no avail.

"If you're intent on playing the fool, then let me remind you; this mark proves you're not human," Freesia froze at that. What was he trying to say? "You're a homunculus," he growled, then brought his left hand up for her to see. The same mark was on the back of his hand, "Just like me."

-Meanwhile, in a little house in Central...-

"Ah-choo!" a young woman, probably 18 or so, blew her nose with a tissue and sighed, scratching her head and pushing back her wild mane of red hair. Notes were scattered all over her table, most of them containing alchemic circles and difficult formulas. She was currently bending over a particularly complex one, trying to see if she could use it or not.

"Hey Marcus, what do you think? You think I'll pass with this alchemic circle?" she held the piece of parchment up for a small goblin-like creature sitting on another table behind her to see. It peered at the formulas and looked at the alchemic circle before rolling into a really tight ball, almost in disgust.

The young woman sighed again, "I guess you're right... The last time I used this, I ended up with a chimera without legs... Why did that Shou Tucker have to use my basic concepts? After all, so far MY chimeras have at least been tame enough to help around the house."

Marcus grunted something behind her, "Be quiet, Marcus! Don't compare yourself to Mr. Tucker's chimeras. He creates monsters. I create company," she said brightly, standing up and hugging her little goblin friend," Just so you know, I'm not very confident in my next recertification exam..." the little chimera in her hands started bopping her on the head with it's small but agile fists, causing her to feel as if a pair of cymbals have just been played right in front of her ears,

"Ow-ow-ow! Marcus! That hurt! Quit it!" she cried, putting the small creature down onto the floor, "Look, I know you don't like the idea of being transmuted with a chimpanzee, but it was the only thing I could do to save you, okay? You're my little brother. Try to understand."

Marcus grumbled something under his breath and she laughed, "Be grateful it's your pet chimpanzee, baby bro! I wanted to make you as human as possible!"

Just then, the phone rang. Running over to it, she picked it up in a hurry, slipping on a marble on the floor and ended up falling, bumping into a wall and dropping the phone altogether with a yelp of surprise. The person on the other end of the phone could only hear the odd, strangled sound followed by a loud crash and was lucky enough to hear the whole din finished with the touches of a particularly large vase smashing down on the head of it's owner, followed by an agonized cry before a series of footsteps came over and a voice finally came through the device, "Hello? Oww... Corporal Melody Exhall speaking..."

"H-Hello? Corporal, it's Sheska. Wow, I wasn't really expecting you to be up this late..." said the timid voice on the other end of the contraption,

"Oh, hi Sheska! So, how'd it go? Did you manage to analyze it completely and get a positive result?" Melody sounded very hopeful, her emerald eyes gleaming with anticipation.

Sheska was silent for a while, "Well... about that alchemic circle you said was going to make you pass your recertification exam..."

"Uh-huh? Did it work? Was the formula alright? I don't have as many reference books as you have, so I was afraid to use it before I got confirmation from more reliable sources. A.K.A, your library of a house."

"Well, according to the alchemy books, everything's perfect. The only problem is... One of these 'How to make Chimera' book state that the array here is a bit off... plus you used a complex kind of formula teamed up with a simple array, the book predicts that you may end up with a chimera that has a missing head, at least one missing limb, or has no brain at all..." Sheska said slowly, recalling word by word of the short paragraph in the aforementioned book.

Melody fell silent on the other end of the phone... "Uhm... Hello? Melody? Are you there?"

"Yeah I'm here. Just give me a sec..." Melody placed the phone on the desk and walked to a small, sound-proof cubicle not too far away from where she was standing. Stepping inside and locking herself in, she shrieked in frustration. After all, her hard work had been for naught and her recertification exam was in three days' time... whatever her task was, she was to use the one alchemic skill she knows how to use very well; making chimeras.

She stepped out of the room a short while later and picked the phone up, "Sheska, I'm sorry to keep you up all night just to help me, but you can wrap it up for now. I'll call you up if I need anything."

Sheska nodded on the other end, "Okay. Good night, Melody. Or... whatever time of day it is..."

"It's two in the morning, Sheska. Go to sleep, you need your rest."

"What about you?"

Melody shrugged, "Expect my office to be occupied by a raccoon version of me."

Sheska laughed before bidding her friend good night. As soon as she put the phone down, Melody slumped into her chair and brushed a few strand of her hair out of her pretty face. How to create human chimeras... that was one of the things her father had been studying and it looked like I rubbed off onto her. According to her father's studies, if one was to become a chimera, one's life expectancy would be increased by as high as 0.9 percent, which was quite a high number. Well, she has been interested in the subject for the longest time, so she was pretty glad she got to take over her father's job as a State Alchemist.

She broke into a fit of coughs shortly after that. It was painful. She doubled over as the coughing became even more violent and before she knew it, blood was seeping through between her fingers as she fell down onto the floor, on her side.

She was breathing heavily when it subsided and was glad Marcus had gone upstairs to sleep. Painfully, she crawled over to her desk and opened one of the drawers. She pulled a bottle of pills from out of it and swallowed two, feeling her breathing return back to normal slowly.

'...Two years... Two years of suffering... God, if this keeps up, I don't know what's going to happen to Marcus. Well, at least if something happens to me...' she thought as she hauled herself up to her feet.

She picked up a book from one of her bookshelves and continued to study, until she fell asleep on the couch with various books spread out in front of her and her ink bottle making a total mess out of a particular book that looked like it came out of the library...

On the building across of her home, a figure sat on the roof, looking at her with an amused expression. His usually cold, cruel features softened considerably when she finally fell asleep, looking so peaceful and innocent, her hair spread out around her like fire. The sight was simply beautiful to him.

"And what brings us to this particular place at this hour?" asked the silky voice of a woman behind him. He merely threw his head back to look at her, his vision in that position making the tall, dark-haired woman behind him appear upside-down.

He smiled brazenly at her and said, "Why Lust, I didn't know you cared," his voice dripped with sarcasm as he returned to his previous position and continued to watch the apple of his eye sleep.

The wavy-haired woman, Lust, followed his gaze and smiled, giggling to herself, "My, my, Envy... Your tastes in women surprise me."

"Doesn't everything about me always?" he asked bluntly, standing up and pushing his locks of dark green hair back, "But, I have to agree. To have someone like her catch my eye IS something to be surprised about."

A fat, bald man... erm... creature... (Receives glares from this character's fans) MAN, tugged lightly at Lust's gloves and said, "Ne, Lust, can I eat her...?"

Instead of Lust answering that question for him, Envy was the one to snap at him, rather angrily, "No. Lay a finger on her and I'll have you barbequed..." his two companions stared at him as if he had grown an extra head before he went off without another word.

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Hoo-kay! That's all for this chapter, folks. I enjoyed writing this chapter very much, especially the last bits, so I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. :-)

By the way, in future chapters, I may be merging some characters from a friend's fic in here. I like his concept and I think it would spice my story up too.

If you have flames, I'd feel quite upset... :'-(

Oh well, you're the readers, you give the verdict. More to come, more to come... Don't worry, I'll try to upload more frequently. After all, exam season is approaching, here where I'm from. :-P


	4. Secrets

The 8th Sin

-Secrets-

Hi Lunarkry! Glad to see that you're back up and writing. ;) I swear, if you stop suddenly again, I'd clobber you... Or just send Gluttony over so he can eat you. :P

Heheh, I got tons of inspiration from Fort Minor's 'Believe Me'. I recommend this song for dark stories 'cause it's really nice. : P It's helping me a lot in this story, so I doubt it very much if it can't help you with yours.

Alright, so far we ARE getting comfortable with the characters, aren't we? (Well, okay, if anyone doesn't like them, I guess I can take that fine... Note; _I THINK)_

So, let's get on with the show, shall we?

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-Dublith-

Freesia hid in a dark corner of the library, as she had snuck in through a small open window, big enough for her to squeeze through. She just sat there, like a scared little animal, trembling from head to toe and hugging her small, furry companion as if someone was going to take him away from her. Her breathing was labored as she looked at her right arm, the memories of what had just happened a few hours ago swimming to the surface and reminding her of that incident...

Greed had her cornered in the kitchen, his powerful arms on either sides of her as he asked her one question after another, each one she was certain she had no answer to, and yet she knew something about it. She just didn't know what. When more people entered the room, she freaked out. All the pressure of being cornered got to her and she finally snapped.

She ducked a bit, though there wasn't much space for her to do so and forced all her weight to her shoulder, where she rammed right into Greed, knocking the taller and more muscular man back a few paces. It must have hurt, even for him, even if he was a homunculus, or whatever it was that he said he was. She didn't pause to say 'sorry' or to even see if he was alright. All she cared about was to get out of there.

Voices were everywhere, as almost everyone in the place tried to grab hold of her, who was considered an intruder. She'd picked Shu up off the ground as she ducked out of the people's grips, grabbing her jacket as well as she bolted for the door like a wild animal intent on being set free.

A sharp tug on her jacket stopped her momentarily. Looking back, a tanned blonde woman had her hand firmly on her jacket, her arm extended in a humanly impossible length. She said something to the frightened girl, but at the sight of the knife on the woman's shoulder, Freesia felt even more afraid at what it would do to her. She released the article of clothing and sent the military-clad woman stumbling backwards from the pulling force.

As if that wasn't enough, a small-framed man with spiky hair and clad in a white martial arts suit had attempted to block her way. In her delirious state of mind, she had taken it the wrong way. She dropped her pet and held one hand out. Without the knowledge of what was happening, she could only remember seeing her nails elongate, taking the form of sharp spikes as she struck the small man in the shoulders, knocking him back at the same time.

A large man was her last obstacle from obtaining her freedom. She had bumped into him as she was trying to get away from a mob of the residents there. He caught her in a bear hug, not allowing any space for her to retaliate. That was the last straw. She kicked and screamed, thrashing about with what power she had and at one point, all she could recall was hearing water slosh about before she found herself free of the muscular man's grip. Scooping Shu up into her arms once more, she dashed out of the place at an inhuman sped, right between the large man's legs.

She didn't even have a destination set in her head. Her instincts just told her to run. And run she did, into the one place, the _ONLY_ place in all of Dublith she'd consider a sanctuary; the library.

Now she was just sitting there, on the brink of tears from all the facts that had just popped up from the back of her mind. They were, in fact, the answers to Greed's questions. There were traces of blood on her fingers, where she had stabbed the agile man earlier on and now, she was confused; wasn't she human?

If she wasn't, then that would explain her supernatural healing abilities, all those things she was able to do back in that bar, the unusual color of her skin, the even more unusual color of her eyes. It all made sense.

But even if it did, why had her parents hidden this from her? Was it because they were afraid she wouldn't love them the way a child would to their parents, or was it because they were afraid she would hate them? They may have only been together for a very short time, but they have grown attached to her very much. She knew that.

Freesia shook her head of these thoughts, "That's impossible... They don't hide things from me! They mustn't have known..." Then, another fact made her feel pretty sure they knew what she was. Her father was an alchemist. So was her mother. Even if they never did human transmutation before, surely they've seen the mark on her shoulder in a book somewhere before.

Once she was feeling safe enough, she crept out of the library through the same window, not wanting to give anyone a heart attack fro being in there when the front door wasn't even open and went to think in a more secluded place; the roof of the tallest building in town. After the incident in the bar, she found that it was easy for her to accomplish what others cannot like jump great heights and distances, lift heavy objects, break obstacles.

Shu huddled close to her as the height scared him. She stroked the little creature fondly, feeling glad that he was there to be with her. She must have stayed up there for a long time, because she only realized that the sun had risen when something touched her shoulder.

Eyes wide with fear, she grabbed the thing and looked up, surprised to find the black-winged man she met just yesterday.

He looked down at her quizzically, "Now what brings you up here so early in the morning?" he asked as Freesia loosened her grip on him and backed away, still feeling that he was a bit of a threat.

She didn't reply, she just looked at him with those big violet eyes, waiting for him to make his move. Rin sighed, "I'm not going to eat you. I just came up here for a bit of fresh air," he sat down near the edge of the roof, looking as if he was going to fall, but his wings were there to keep him balanced. She looked over his shoulder at her, smiling as he saw Shu in her lap, "I see you've found yourself a friend."

Freesia didn't reply. She stood up and was going to walk away when he realized something; they weren't on solid ground! She was going to jump off the building and they were fourteen stories away from splitting their heads open upon landing!

"STOP!" he cried, but it was too late, she had allowed herself to fall and in these events, Rin was glad he had wings. He jumped down after her, spreading his wings and extending a hand towards her. She didn't look like she was going to take his hand anytime soon and if she didn't, he was going to witness someone die from the impact of falling off the town's inn's roof at point blank.

Something felt familiar about this situation. Freesia looked at the State Alchemist who was struggling to get to her and suddenly had the image of a smiling bespectacled man (Think Tenpo from Gensomaden Saiyuki) reaching out to her, as if helping her to get to her feet. Unconsciously, she had extended her hand, longing to just touch the face of that man...

All she got was a sharp tug as someone held her close, almost squishing her dog between them and before she knew it, her legs were planted firmly on the ground, and she was unscathed. Rin still had his arms around her protectively as he was breathing heavily. It was almost as if he was holding on to her for support.

Freesia was going to push him away from her when he whispered in her ear, "Do me a favor; DON'T do that again..." Shu's muffled yelp caused the two of them to back away from one another in a hurry.

Rin looked at her attending to her pet; so gentle, so caring... it was unlike how she treated those she didn't consider 'hers'. He'd gotten that impression ever since he first met her. He picked up the book he'd drop halfway down their fall and held it out to her,

"You dropped this yesterday."

Freesia looked at him quizzically. She considered him an enemy, and yet he was being so nice to her. But... she wanted the book... She reached out for the thing, slowly, cautiously, never once breaking their eye contact as if he would start doing something funny if she did. Freesia snatched it out of his grip at lightning speed and went off as soon as she got what she wanted.

"Hey, wait!" Rin called, breaking into a sprint to catch up with her. He lost her a second time, but this time, he used his eyes and his wings as his advantage. He flew up and searched for her from the sky. It wasn't so hard to find her. After all, not many people wake up so early in the morning just to fall off the top of the inn...However, another thing caught his eye. The Elric brother was trying to sneak out again... Great. First a girl with inhuman powers who thinks he's going to eat him at any given opportunity and now a State Alchemist and his suit of armor for a younger brother trying to get out of his grip.

He was going to decide who was more important when he noticed something; the two parties were heading straight for each other...

CRASH!

Ouch... That has GOT to hurt...

Down on the ground, Freesia had fallen over after ramming right into a suit of armor, which was pre-occupied, looking for his missing head...

Freesia got up, face twisted with anger as was the short blonde boy standing in front of her, "Watch where you're going, you creep!" she spat, looming over him.

"What do you mean? You were the one who bumped into US! If you apologize now I'll let you off unharmed!" threatened Edward, shaking a fist at her.

Freesia laughed mockingly at him, "Oh and if I won't? What are you going to do? Run me over with your tricycle?"

Edward's anger has now reached way past its limit, "That's it! Girl or no girl, you're going down!" he lunged towards her and pulled his automail fist back, intending to make his hit hurt more than usual.

That odd feeling swept through her again. The feeling where she knew what her opponents were going to do in a few seconds' time. She bent over backwards, her back forming a smooth arch as she used one hand to support her weight, the other still cuddling her pet.

Before Edward could pull his fist back, Freesia brought her legs up and kicked him in the jaw, forcing him backwards as she stood up again. Placing Shu gently on the ground, she was going to go for the alchemist again when someone stopped her at an impossible speed. With a simple twist of her arm, Rin gave her a push, which was surprisingly powerful due to the addition of speed power.

She was literally flung a few feet back, making her crash into a wall and at the angle she was thrown, her back made an odd sound. Her backbone was broken. Eyes wide from the shock and the pain, she fell to the ground, dead in a matter of seconds.

Rin, who had been the one responsible for her death, watched in horror as the young woman didn't stir. Edward recovered from the hit and Al finally found his head again as they also stared at the lifeless body of Freesia.

"Rin... is she...?" Edward started. Rin was speechless. When he found his voice again, he spluttered,

"I... I hope not..." As they were going to approach the body, they could have sworn she twitched. Shu barked happily, going over to lick his master awake. Surely enough, she moved, picking herself off the ground and looking very much alive. Her back seemed to have been mended again now.

However, she didn't stand up. She was on all fours, her head bowed and her shoulders trembling. They could hear her laugh, but what they did not see were the tears she shed as her horrible secret was revealed, "So it's true..." she said, barely audible to her three audiences,

"I'm a homunculus..."

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Ooh... O.O; She knows... Hey, since she didn't have any idea that she was a homunculus, obviously there was a reason for her not to know, right? And it most certainly is for a good cause...

And the things she could do. Kinda scared me as I was writing though. O.O;

So, how do you guys like it so far? Melody WILL have more of a role soon. (CHAP.5 SPOILER!) This is because Freesia will be taken to Central forcefully...

Oh well, stay tuned for more:-) I've got more running through my head, and this certainly isn't the end!


	5. One way or Another

The 8th Sin

-'Leave Me Alone'-

Huah... I've been on a roll... Just so you all know, I typed this chapter down when I just uploaded chapter 3. In other words, I finished this chap and chapter 4 in one day. : P

Oh and by the way, I'm mixing in some scenes from both the manga and the anime so anyone who has both of these will know where I got so-and-so scenes. :3

I really hope everyone is enjoying this story so far. I know Freesia sounds kind of pathetic right now, but she'll get over it soon. I assure you that. As for Melody's short appearance, it's got significance. The pieces will fit soon enough. Just stay tuned, people!

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Edward didn't catch the last phrase she mentioned and was going to question her further when she attempted to run away again. This time, Rin wasn't taking any chances. He quickly drew an alchemic circle on the dirt road and activated it, causing the pressure around Freesia to increase until her body dropped to the ground, as heavy as lead. She struggled against the invisible force, but she knew she was beaten.

Rin approached her and hauled her up, "...You're coming with me."

"Where are you taking her?" Edward asked. He found her to be extremely intriguing as he had just seen someone recover from a broken backbone, which normally causes a 100 percent instant death on a human being, in less than 30 seconds!

The winged alchemist turned to face the smaller young man and said, "To Central. King Bradley will have a say as to what to do with her. I can't guarantee if she lives or otherwise," Freesia tried struggling again, but it was no use; her body wouldn't move. Shu barked loudly at Rin's feet, in spite of his small size and was going to bite his ankles when Rin spread his wings and got airborne.

"I don't intend to take the train, so if I may take my leave now, I'll send a replacement for myself once I reach HQ. Till then, I don't expect the two of you to go running amok," he said coldly, obviously in a foul mood as he flew off, the newly-revived young woman slung over his shoulder.

He was a surprisingly fast flier and before they knew it, they had reached Central, and it only took an hour. What was he, a miracle worker or something? Oh yeah that's right... he's an alchemist. Besides, in these days, _ANYTHING_ can happen.

The first person Rin met as soon as he reached HQ was a red-haired woman, no taller than Edward Elric himself and she carried a stack of files with her, a small, goblin-like creature following close behind her as the files she was carrying threatened to fall over on top of her,

"Hi there, Rin! Who do you have –whoa! - There? Colonel Mustang isn't... –yikes! - Here, if you're looking for him. Aah!" she cried out as someone bumped into her from the opposite direction and sent her and her files sprawled out on the floor.

Rin rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming. Placing Freesia down, still with the force of gravity on her, he helped the red-head pick up her numerous files, "Melody, what the heck are these for? You do realize that you could have just asked for Sheska's help."

"I know... But the poor girl's busy. I won't want to disturb her. Marcus! Don't eat that!" she suddenly cried, snatching a piece of paper out of the small chimera's grip. It pouted and crossed its arms over its chest. She took the documents out of Rin's hands and stood up, getting Marcus to help her bring some of the other files when she saw Freesia leaning against the wall, immobilized.

"I do know that you can control parts of gravity, but that's plain sickening... She's a girl, probably no older than me. What did she do anyway?" she whispered, forcing the taller alchemist to bend over to hear her.

"She's not just a girl. You can see for yourself once you see the Ourobos' tattoo on her right shoulder," he replied shortly, also in the same tone. Melody decided not to take her chances. If the bluish-black-haired girl really was a homunculus, God knows what she's capable of doing.

"Just so you know, I heard that the Grand President has gone to Dublith. You may have to keep her with you for a while, if your initial plan was to 'pass judgment' onto her, as you'd call it," she said with a smile and walked off towards her office. Rin was going to protest when Melody's door shut with a gentle 'click'. She must be experimenting with more chimeras because he heard various sounds coming out of her room shortly after that.

He sighed and looked at the homunculus sitting on the floor behind him, totally helpless. He had no other choice...

-Later...-

He found himself back at his house (he decided to take the rest of the day off) later, and he was just drying his wings out. It was his least favorite thing to do because he couldn't reach some parts. He hadn't released Freesia of her bonds yet and she was lying on his bed, staring off into space while he just stood at his doorway with a towel over his head, his wings leaving a trail of water behind him and clad only in a pair of white trousers.

"Would you behave and listen to what I say if I let you go?" he asked suddenly, approaching his 'prisoner'. Her eyes now focused on him, a mixture of feelings obviously shown in the depths of her eyes. She had refused to talk and he'd gotten frustrated but now, he received a response,

"Would you take me back home if I do behave?"

Now Rin had to think. If he let her go, she may pose as a threat once she has gained control over her abilities. Her ability to regenerate was already enough for Rin to brand her as dangerous and if she showed signs of being able to do more than just that, then he wouldn't let her out of his sight.

But for now, all he could do was just trust her, no matter how much he didn't want to, "I can't promise that, but if I think you're good enough, I will send you back myself."

For the first time, Freesia smiled at him. It was a genuine smile and for some unknown reason, it made his heart skip a beat and made him kick himself mentally, 'You're not supposed to _LIKE_ her you dolt! That will never happen, at least not if I can help it! Now focus. She's just going to be a temporary helper...'

He managed to convince himself that he wasn't falling for her and released her of her bonds. She sprang up to her feet and stretched, relieved to gain her freedom of mobility again.

Standing up, Freesia got a good look of the room. It was small, but roomy and the walls were decorated by hand-drawn artworks of varying themes. There were mythical creatures, a scene in a war, a lone wolf overlooking a cliff, an angel descending from heaven, they were merely exquisite. All that, done only on one of the four sides of the wall. The numerous brushes scattered on the floor, the palette and the countless tubes of paint were enough to say that he was far from done. Rin noticed her staring at his handiwork and asked, "Do you like arts and crafts?"

Freesia smiled again, making his cheeks take on a light shade of pink this time, "I do. They fascinate me. Father wasn't a very good painter, but he would describe the picture he had in mind and I would admire them. But this..." she said mistily, walking towards the painted wall, running a delicately pale finger over the smooth spread of paint, tracing the figure of the wolf that stood before her as she rested her forehead on the wall, "To be able to express how you feel in this way... It reminds me of something that I can't even remember."

Rin watched her. For a second there, seeing her lean there against his work almost looked like she was part of it. He half-wished she never was a homunculus for he felt that he really was captivated by Freesia's beauty. She interrupted his fantasies when she looked at one end of the wall, where there was an incomplete painting of a black-winged angel, fallen on the ground and writhing in pain, reaching out for the sky and looking as if he was pleading for mercy.

"This is...?" she asked, facing her companion for an explanation.

Rin placed an empty easel in front of it and draped a cloth over it, almost ashamed to allow her to see the picture, "I did that when I was frustrated. I'm planning on painting something else in its place."

Freesia wasn't listening; she moved the easel out of the way and traced the angel's face, twisted in silent agony, "You weren't frustrated, were you? It looks more like you were hurt. Deeply," she said in the same misty tone, a distant look in her eyes as she continued to look at the wall, almost as if she was watching the whole world from there. As if the painting was the whole world itself.

She tore her eyes away from the paintings after a while, "You're a very lonely person, aren't you Rin?" she asked suddenly, trying to relax in his presence.

Rin merely shrugged, "Not that much. Even if I do feel lonely, I vent it out by painting or reading a book."

Freesia giggled, "That just comes to show that I'm right. You ARE lonely. Don't you have any friends?"

"Only one I trust enough. He's more of a rival than a friend though. His name's Jonathan Winrain."

"Is he an alchemist like you?"

Rin nodded, "A pretty powerful one at that... He's called the Storm Front Alchemist. He can sort of alter the weather and mainly uses electricity as his main weapon. But I don't think that matters to you anyway."

"I think it will," his female companion countered quickly, smiling at him wryly. He rolled his eyes skywards. Her stubbornness in whatever she believed was annoying him, but he enjoyed her company nonetheless.

"Hey, do you think you can do me a favor?" he asked suddenly. Freesia searched his eyes for any clue, but found nothing,

"With what?" The curious look on her face was simply adorable. Rin had to refrain himself from getting down and dirty with her right then and there and handed her his towel,

"I need you to help me dry my wings. I can't fly if they're wet..." he mumbled, knowing for one thing that his request was a silly one.

Freesia stared at him for a moment. Her lips curved up into a smile and in a matter of seconds, her laughter rang around the room like a chime. Sweet and melodic, "You could have just asked earlier!" she cried, grabbing the towel and beckoning him to sit on the floor while she sat on the bed and started drying out his wings. She liked the feel of his feathers; soft and smooth. She thought they were rough and coarse the first time she saw him, but obviously she was wrong.

During the few times Freesia's fingers flitted over his bare back, his body tensed, 'You can't fall in love with her, you shouldn't fall in love with her, and you MUSTN'T fall in love with her! Stop responding to her, damn it!' he screamed to himself mentally, trying to block out these strange sensations he felt whenever she touched him.

Freesia sighed when she was done, "Okay, that's just about it, right?" she asked, feeling through the black feathers quickly just to make sure they were dry.

Rin snapped out of his trance and stood up, taking the towel from her hands, "Yeah, thanks a lot."

"Don't mention it," she said with a smile. God, how he wished she'd stop that... He walked over to his closet and pulled a tight dark green shirt over his head. It surprised Freesia how he could even wear anything without having his clothes ripped beforehand.

Rin enlightened her, "My clothes are all custom-made. They've got holes in the back so my wings can fit through."

She smiled again at him and nodded, "You know Rin, I never thought you'd be such a nice person."

The purple-haired alchemist looked at her quizzically, "Why? I have noticed that you seem to have a phobia over military people," he said flatly, pulling a chair up in front of the incomplete painting and picking up his palette, squeezing various colors onto it before continuing to paint.

Freesia shrugged, "About the military thing, I don't know what happened to me, but your kind of people scare me. And yet, even when I know you're in the military, you remind me of a man I've long forgotten."

Rin didn't reply. He merely continued to add in various touches to the incomplete picture and in a sense, waited for Freesia to continue talking.

"Rin, what is 'love'?" her innocent question made Rin accidentally smear white paint on the tree that he just painted.

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(Gasp!) What would Rin say? And it's surprising how Freesia can instantaneously change Rin's mind about 'passing judgment' on her... :P

I'm enjoying every minute of detail on this one, I hope everyone else does too. Oh and just to peak your interests, if you think my work is good, try reading some stuff written by lightningsrxu and Rin-neechan. They rock:)

So, that's all for chapter 5. Chapter 6 will be done soon, I assure you. :-)


	6. 2nd Chances

The 8th Sin

-2nd Chances-

Wow, the 6th chapter already... I never thought this story would get this far... Honest. :-) Thanks to all you readers out there inspiring me, I'm still here, so the credit goes to you guys. :-)

Special thanks to lightningstrxu and Rin-neechan because these two have brought the most inspirations for me, in more than one way that they can think of. ;)

Health Warning: Possible crappy chapter coming up. Depends on how you take it, but I think it's crappy. :(

Okay, enough with the sentimentalism... (Wipes eyes with tissue) Let's get on with the show, shall we?

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-Three days later...-

It was Melody's recertification exam day. She had passed the theory exam without breaking a sweat, and now the practical exam was making her get the jitters. Especially when teamed with the fact that she wasn't exactly going to create a chimera for this exam...

Marcus made a purring sound as he walked alongside her and Melody had to pat him several times on the head to reassure him nothing bad was going to happen. Her task on that day was to clear up the remaining chimeras in Shou Tucker's residence. Oddly enough, the house has been abandoned for quite a long time now and yet, those half-breed creatures were still alive and extremely hungry.

The few people who went in there didn't get out without having a trauma or in the worst-case scenario, never came out ever again, ending up as monster's feed. Marcus clung onto his sister's uniform and Melody simply walked on, down into the basement where she was accompanied by her examiner; Colonel Roy Mustang.

She saluted her superior, who returned the gesture and asked, "Are you ready to start the exam?"

The red-head looked down at her chimera sibling, thought for a minute and looked up at the raven-haired man, "Yes. Anytime."

Roy nodded in approval, "Very well. There are around five chimeras behind this door," roars erupted from behind the heavy door, as if to prove the colonel's point. Marcus hid behind his sister's legs with a yelp as the Colonel continued, "All you have to do is dispose of them."

Melody looked at her scared sibling, "And if I don't, Colonel?" The black-haired man raised an eyebrow quizzically, "If they're too much for me, I mean," she said with a weak smile.

Roy nodded, "We have people backing you in case you don't pass."

Melody giggled at that, "Thank you Colonel. That was 'reassuring'," she said jokingly and her senior merely shrugged,

"I try," he said lightly before Melody went off to finish her exam. She entered the small, dimly-lit room and looked around. She could only see two, and the two beasts have just been staring at her hungrily, trying to find ay trace of fear in her.

Melody looked down at them coldly, as if warning them to back off. She daren't make any sudden moves, but when one of the two leapt for her without giving her any time to draw and alchemic circles, she pulled two paper amulets from her pocket and stuck one on the chimera, the other one held in her hand. When she activated it, another alchemic circle, which was somehow drawn on Marcus' belly glowed with a pale blue light and in a matter of seconds, joined both chimeras into one, forming a much more powerful beast.

"Just give me a roar if you think you can't handle the alchemization," she called, drawing an alchemic circle on the floor and creating a pole arm for her own safety.

Marcus was now a six-foot tall beast with an almost human head, covered with coarse hair and large limbs. The upper body was that of a muscular man and from the waist down, it was a mixture of a lion's forelegs and a hose's hind legs. His clawed hands were the size of someone's torso and it looked like it could crush anything without fail.

Another chimera in the lab sprang to life, attempting to bite into Marcus' shoulder, but he was far more agile than the griffon-look-alike. With a single swipe, the griffon's body was shredded into several bloody pieces, where it landed on the floor with a dull 'thud'.

The remaining three seemed afraid of these two newcomers. All this time, they have always been the predator. Now, they were prey. A lynx-moose chimera let out a howl as the remaining creatures went all out for them, baring their fangs and claws in a desperate attempt to live. Melody almost felt sorry for them as Marcus literally butchered the hungry animals without a sense of sympathy.

Once she made sure no other beasts were left alive, Melody sighed. She took out the paper amulet she had earlier on and used it to reverse the alchemization, releasing her brother from being bonded to the ugly creature forever. The paper amulet on the chimera's head glowed a bright red before it literally burned the whole creatures beings slowly, painfully as ever howl of agony echoed through the room and Marcus once again clung onto his sister's leg. She sighed for this wasn't the first time she'd done this. She'd seen countless chimeras, and on occasions, people die this way, only because she was ordered to do so. She stepped up to the flaming mass of flesh, which was still screeching in pain and raised her pole arm.

"Marcus," she called, "Don't look," those were her final words of warning before her goblin-like sibling covered his eyes with his small hands and a sickening crunch followed closely after that.

The pole arm was brought down, and there was silence. The only sound in the room was the sound of the still burning carcass of the chimera Melody had just killed.

She raised a hand and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, "It's over..." she said, half-relieved that her exam was over, and quite easily at that. An odd, yet familiar sensation swept past her as she doubled over, dropping her weapon and covering her mouth with both hands. She started coughing again, and Marcus knew that it wasn't a good sign.

He ran to the door, crying out as loudly as he could and pounding on the door, calling for help. A fairly tall young man came into the room in a hurry, prying Marcus off of his legs so he could go over to Melody's side and when he did, she was already coughing up blood, for the umpteenth time.

She toppled sideways into his arms, trying to catch her breath as her coughing ceased, "Melody, come on, hang in there!" the young alchemist tried to keep her awake and in her condition, all she could see with her blurred vision was fairly tan skin and short, spiky black hair. The first person she had in mind was the Colonel, but the higher-pitched voice definitely wasn't the colonel.

Melody tried focusing and saw a pair of deep, sky-blue eyes. Smiling weakly as she continued to catch her breath, she said weakly, "Jonathan..."

"God, stop toppling over already will you? Maybe I ought to get myself a change in partner," said Jonathan in an annoyed tone, half-relieved that she was still alive.

The girl in his arms huffed, "I didn't choose to lose my lungs and my intestines doing something that was obviously wrong in the laws of alchemy..." she muttered, sitting up with a lot of effort. She pulled out a small bottle of pills and a small bottle of water from her pockets, swallowing two of the pills and taking a few gulps of much-needed water from her bottle.

She sighed as she felt slightly better, wiping the blood from both corners of her mouth and putting the two things in her hands away. Jonathan kindly helped her up and went out to be greeted by Major Armstrong, in all his sparkly glory. Marcus, who was quite fond of the big man (whom according to Melody, Marcus thought was a 'funny man'...) greeted the muscular, almost-bald man with a happy little purr and a hug to the leg.

The Major picked Marcus up, placing the little 'boy' on his shoulder as he did a one-armed flexing show, not even noticing or even caring that his two audiences were watching in disgust, what with the pink sparkles flying about him from God knows where.

"Marcus, come down from there! I have a lot of work to do and I think I'll need your help re-arranging my files alphabetically, again! Really, someone around here has been wrecking my filing system..." Melody muttered as Marcus shook his head no at his elder sibling, insisting that he wanted to play with the now shirtless Major.

Jonathan laughed when Melody looked devastated, "I'll help with the sorting. I haven't got anything else to do anyway."

"Thanks Jonathan... Major, if you'd kindly take care of Marcus for me," Melody said politely. The huge man's response was,

"Not a problem, young Melody! Taking care of just a little boy would be no problem for me, as the art of baby-sitting have been passed through the Armstrong family for generations!" a few more flexes, and it was already enough for both Melody and Jonathan to bolt out of sight. Nobody have ever stayed long enough to hear the Major say anything that made sense whenever it was his day off...

"I really appreciate your helping me, Jonathan. Are you sure you don't want me to repay you in any way?"

"I'm a gentleman. I don't need to," Jonathan replied with a cheeky grin.

Melody laughed. For someone who was three years younger than her, he was a charming young man, "Okay then, how's about a trip to the cake shop around the corner? Havoc did say they have good cakes."

"Hmm... Sounds tempting. Why not? Your treat," he said curtly, crossing his arms over his chest and smiling at her mischievously.

She raised an eyebrow at him, "Whatever happened to 'I'm a gentleman'?"

Jonathan wrinkled his nose cutely, "To hell with it."

They both laughed as they walked off towards her office.

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It was early evening at that time, the sun casting an orange glow over everything the light touches and Freesia was still living in Rin's place, and had just received some mail from her parents in Dublith. She had left suddenly, so she just wanted them to know that she was fine and that they didn't have to worry about her. They took it quite well. Too well, actually, but Freesia knew them long enough to know how they feel about her.

Through their letters, she felt much better to know that no matter what she was, to them she will always be their Freesia. She smiled serenely as she re-read the letter she had received from her mother and at the same time, thinking of what to say in her reply letter. She gave up after not coming up with anything shortly after that and looked at the wall. Rin had finished the picture of the black-winged angel, in spite of him saying that he was going to paint something over it and it looked beautiful.

In a sense, he did draw something over it. Before, the fallen angel was all alone, suffering but Rin had added something to the scene. A woman was there next to the poor soul, almost as if she was trying to relieve the man of his suffering, even if just a little. The painting made her smile. It reminded her of what she had asked him a few days ago.

_-Flashback-_

_"Rin, what is 'love'?" she had asked. Rin had made a startled movement, accidentally smearing the wrong color in the wrong place in his almost perfect painting. It was a pity she couldn't see his face, otherwise she would have been able to see that his cheeks were as bright red as a tomato!_

_His heart was pounding as he wracked his brains for an answer, "Well... uh... love... is a strong feeling, I guess. I'm not really sure how it feels to be loved, since my mother left me at an orphanage and my father died when I was born, but I do know from other people that to love and to be loved is a wonderful thing," he said uncertainly, re-painting the smeared area with slightly shaky hands._

_He didn't know how she did it, but without him noticing, Freesia was standing right behind him, one hand placed on his shoulder and the other on his hand, guiding his hands so they wouldn't shake as badly as he painted._

_"My father always said that when you're painting, a steady hand is very important," she said softly as Rin finished re-painting. He didn't reply but looked at her over his shoulder,_

_"Freesia, sorry to change the subject, but this is important. While I'm off to work, I'd like you to stay indoors, until I come home. I don't want to catch you walking around outside without my permission, alright?" he said in his sternest voice, only earning an understanding smile from the dark-haired girl behind her._

_She was just too adorable. He stood up and gave her a one-armed hug, whispering into her ear, "That's a good girl."_

_-End of flashback-_

As she was reminiscing, a sigh escaped her lips, "This is taking too long... I just want to go back to Dublith! It's not like I want to tear this place up from one corner to the other!" she cried in frustration, slamming the letter she held in her hands down on the bed.

She buried her face in her blanket (well, Rin's, actually...) and thought, 'Dang it... I should've just strangled him a few days back... He'd probably kill me anyway once he knows I'm just toying with him so I can get what I want! But if I kill him, I won't get to see his completed paintings anymore... Argh! This is just too frustrating!' she started rolling around on the bed in frustration and fell off eventually. She'd been holding a grudge against Rin ever since she caused her to break her backbone back at home. Otherwise, she simply didn't like him.

Freesia DID try to escape before, even with him warning her not to. Unfortunately, during the two times she did that, through her two-day stay in his house, Rin was on the roof and asking her where she was headed off to. She'd lied that she was going to take a walk and on both events, Rin said that he'd accompany her. She just had to turn his offer down and get cooped up again. She wasn't taking any chances this time...

As she picked herself up, looking a complete mess, she thought something felt a bit 'wrong'. She looked outside the window and took in every bit of detail she could see. The place Rin chose to live in was quite an isolated area, where not many people would come by so it wasn't very hard for Freesia to notice an aged man with an eye patch dragging a very familiar man behind him by the collar, rendered unconscious. Four rapiers were driven into an equal number of what seemed to be pressure points on his body.

She gasped, "Greed!" without even thinking of what Rin would say to her or even if Rin was there to see her, she practically jumped out of the second floor window and approached the man, "Excuse me, but you have my friend there. He appears hurt. Where are you taking him?" she asked quickly, earning a confused look from the aged man. Another familiar feeling washed over her as she got a good look at the man. It was a similar feeling to that of when she was alongside Greed, but this was a menacing presence.

Backing away slowly, a name she never knew slipped from between her lips, "Pride..."

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Okay, its official; this chapter's crap! I was desperately trying to make Freesia and Melody meet and it's a disaster... oh well, at least I still managed to highlight a few events that were supposed to stick out. If anyone thinks I should rewrite this, do tell.

After all, that's what reviewers are for, right? I do hope you all think it's alright though because I am particularly tired as I'm typing this chapter... even now, while writing the author's note.

Mini-spoiler: Greed re-appears in the next chap. :P To lightningstrxu, I may need to twist that bit of information around some more. :3 You'll see why.

Oh well, enjoy it, people. I need a bit of shut-eye before I start chapter 7...

Please R and R!


	7. Recollection

The 8th Sin

-A Love without a Soul-

Oh man, I still can't get over the embarrassment of chapter 6's disaster… Argh! Just hopefully, this one sounds a lot better because I am SERIOUSLY trying to improve the quality of the writing!

This is just so tiring... I just hope I don't make a mess of the whole storyline. Plus I've got schoolwork, so I'm trying my best to entertain and complete my work at the same time. Only for you guys. :-)

Oh so you guys know, I don't know how all the homunculi look like in the manga so I'm just going to use the anime homunculi, okay? I'll just be adding a bit of the manga's scenes. :P

Let's cut the crap and go for the action where I left us hanging.

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The mustached man looked taken aback at her knowledge of his name, "May I know who you are?" he asked, trying to conceal his shock.

She refused to answer him, "Where are you taking Greed?" she asked again, this time a bit more confidently, even though she was still intimidated by his presence.

"I'm sure you don't have to know that, young lady."

Freesia bit her lip, "Well then, can I take him back to my residence? He's hurt, "she tried again, pointing to the unconscious homunculus on the ground. She was quite sure that he was alright, since she could see his chest rising and falling.

The man she called Pride frowned, "My answer is no. Who are you?" he asked a second time, feeling even more agitated by the minute.

"I'm Freesia from Dublith. You... you're Pride, aren't you?" she back away a little, feeling that he was a dangerous man.

"How do you know?"

Freesia fell silent. For a second, she could somehow predict that she would see the same tattoo she saw on the back of Greed's left hand and her right shoulder in Pride's left eye. Raising a finger, she pointed at his eye patch, "You have an Ouroboros tattoo. You're a homunculus, right?"

"That's enough!" Pride seemed to be very surprised at how she knew all this. A cold sweat ran down his back as he saw the same tattoo on her and when he finally realized who she was. He's seen this child before. She would be the one to destroy them all for good, once she realizes her own strength. He took a few deep breaths, and instead went to try and bring her on his side,

"You seem to know a lot about us. If that is so, why don't you come with me? There are others like you."

Freesia shook her head, "No way! After what you've done to Greed? Fat chance I'm coming with you! I don't know how I knew you Pride, but what I do know is that you're going to hurt Greed!" she cried, now standing her ground.

Now this was getting sickening. If he couldn't get her to his side, he may as well just get rid of her. He didn't see any pressure points on her, he only had one sword on him so his only chance of getting away clean from this persistent homunculus was to pin her limbs down somewhere.

"By the way, you're not going to give Greed up any time now, are you?" she asked, one hand on her hip. Pride found this amusing and chuckled,

"He's yours for the taking if you can beat me," he said proudly, very sure that she wouldn't even land a scratch on him.

Before he could react, Freesia had done a somersault towards him, one leg extended to deliver a pretty much Greed-style drop kick, "It's a deal!" she cried as Pride stepped away easily and raised his rapier to pierce through her heart.

She didn't think he would do that and obviously had no back-up plans for it but as she closed her eyes and waited for the pain to was over her, the only thing she could hear was a 'thunk', "Huh?" she landed gracefully on her feet and looked down at her chest. A black solid encased her chest and parts of her neck, creeping up towards her face and shoulders like a shield.

"What the?" she hadn't enough time to wonder what had happened. Shield or no shield, Pride seemed intent on beating her the same way he beat Greed. This time, he was going for her head and Freesia shut her eyes, knowing her new-found shield wasn't going to cover her head fast enough and heard water slosh again.

"Huh?" it was the only thing that could fill her head. Now this was familiar... it was like the time she got away from that huge man back in Dublith... but when she tried familiarizing herself with this new power, she turned solid again, lying on her back on the ground with Pride standing over her, his rapier held in such a way that he could easily drive his sword through her repeatedly. She wasn't going to let that happen.

Raising one hand, she made her nails elongate again, but this time with a bit of knowledge on how to do it. Her nails stabbed through Pride's chest and shoulder, making him drop his weapon and somehow allowing Freesia to lift him a few inches off the ground, impaling him.

Looking at him like that made her wonder if he was edible and the mere thought made her slap herself; this was no time to eat! She flung him down to the ground and stood up, grabbing his rapier in the process.

From his fallen position, Pride was surprised. He couldn't predict her movements. It was almost as if his ability to predict was disabled as he fought her. And to be able to use Lust, Sloth and Greed's ability in turn were simply baffling. His wounds closed shortly after that as he got to his feet and faced her once more. She had his rapier in one hand and she was kneeling next to Greed, trying to remove the other four from the fallen homunculus' body.

"Do all homunculi have the same healing abilities? If they do, then it's going to be a pain for me to kill you over and over again!" Freesia cried, almost like Envy would when he was annoyed.

"I haven't lost," Pride said shortly, approaching her. Freesia couldn't stand this anymore. Anger washed over her as her right leg sank into the concrete pavement and with a blue alchemic light; a sharp spike drilled itself right through Pride's chest, unpredicted.

Pride's face twisted in silent agony, but most of his expression was that of surprise. Again, he failed to predict her moves. And this time, she used a skill which was that of Wrath's. It was impossible, though... She had no human limbs. She was a pure homunculus. How could she be able to perform alchemy? Pride's questions went unanswered as he fell on the cold ground once more, defeated.

A series of claps came from within a shadow as the day was growing darker and a small man (who looked more like a girl...) appeared from it, a mixture of an amazed and smug expression on his face, "Congratulations, you beat Pride," he said flatly, placing one hand on his slender hip.

Freesia narrowed her eyes at the newcomer, sensing the fact that he was a homunculus as well, "How many more of you do I have to meet, anyway?" she asked off-handedly, bending over Greed in such a way that the look on her face read, 'He's my property. Lay one finger on him and you're dead'.

The palm tree-haired homunculus shrugged, "You'll have to find that out yourself. As for now, I just dropped by to pick him up, since you won't give that one up," he said boredly, pointing first at Pride, then at Greed at the mention of the two men.

"Go ahead. But if you pull any funny tricks, I'll be forced to retaliate," she said threateningly and the fury in her eyes wasn't something anyone would fool around with. The pale young man ignored her and merely picked the taller and older homunculus off the ground, slinging him over his shoulder and with a mocking smirk; he disappeared into the shadows again.

Freesia heaved a sigh of relief and clutched her head as pain shot up the back of her head. A bit more of her memory resurfaced. Looking back at the spot where the palm tree had disappeared, she muttered under her breath, "Envy..."

It didn't take her long to retreat back into the house before Rin came back and inside, she had just finished dislodging the four swords from Greed's body and was just going to put them away somewhere when something grabbed her from behind and slammed her down on the bed, one hand on her neck and the other pulled back as if ready to smash her head to a billion pieces.

Her 'patient' had awoken. He was half-sitting on her torso and was forcing most of his weight down on her neck, which made it impossible for Freesia to breathe. With a choked cry, she tried to pry his diamond-hard hands off of her, but to no avail. Before she could pull any stunts, the pressure vanished, just as suddenly as it had come.

"Freesia?" asked a befuddled, yet familiar voice. He got off of her and Freesia sat up, coughing as she slowly breathed; glad to have some air back into her system. She glared at him, not liking the rough treatment one bit.

"Is this the thanks I get after saving your skin? _You're welcome,_" she said, each word dripping with sarcasm. Greed crossed his arms over his chest and sighed,

"Alright, so you did. Or so you say."

As he said that, in that ungrateful tone of his and teamed up with that annoying expression that read 'I don't believe you', Freesia flopped face-first onto the bed and with both hands clenching handfuls of her hair, she started rolling around in frustration, emitting a sound that was a cross between a growl of frustration and a shriek of exasperation. To add to the bratty effect, she started to thrash about. This lasted for a few minutes before she calmed down.

Looking up at him, she asked, "Did you do something to make someone angry a few days back? The man who dragged you here definitely wasn't a jolly soul," she said sternly, searching the taller homunculus' eyes for an answer.

He didn't reply verbally, just with a shrug, "He never did like my guts," he said flippantly, smirking at her. Freesia gave up. At this point, she never was going to get anything out of him.

"Just know that I'll find out sooner or later," the wry smile Greed threw at her made her add, "Let's just hope it's not too late by the time I find out..."

He looked at her leave the room with an air that unmistakably said, 'Don't even think of leaving this room' as she passed him. He wasn't one to follow whatever anyone says, but this was an exception. He knew he was not completely out of harm's way and staying in hiding sounded like a very good plan at the moment as he looked around in search of anything that would peak his interest. Of course, anyone who entered the room was bound to have the paintings on the wall catch their eyes. He looked mildly impressed at the handiwork and his ears perked up at the sound of a door opening from outside.

Turning his head towards the source of the sound, he was expecting to see his fellow homunculus friend Freesia step into the room. Unfortunately, the group of three who made an appearance made Greed mutter under his breath,

"Shit."

Great. He just barely escaped Dublith (hey wait, he didn't escape. He was half-caught!), away from those darned men in blue uniforms and next thing he knew, he was with three people in blue uniforms smack in the middle of the room, which most likely belonged to one of them. The four exchanged surprised looks followed by a few moments of silence upon their entry and Greed made a mental note to maim Freesia later for leaving him behind in his tired state, stuck with the crowd he loathed most; soldiers.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my room?" Rin broke the silence and Greed was quite thankful that the winged alchemist hasn't noticed the tattoo on the back of his hand. Using that to his advantage, he slipped his hand into his pocket to hide the mark and just played dumb,

"Were you talking to me?" it wasn't exactly the best response, but it was the least he could say to keep himself out of trouble until he was feeling more energetic... Rin frowned at the man,

"Who else would I be talking to?" He was going to say something else when Greed cut in,

"Oh, I don't know, maybe the guy standing next to you?"

The spiky-haired alchemist standing next to Rin rolled his eyes skywards, "The least you could do was tell us your name, sir."

Rapid footsteps could be heard approaching from downstairs.

Melody, who was with the two men thought she heard something odd and turned to look in the direction of the door, "Uh... Rin...? John...?"

"Not now Melody!" the two men snapped at her while Greed went back to concealing his identity the best he could before Freesia comes in to clear everything up.

Fortunately, he didn't have to wait very long. Freesia swung the door open, looking breathless and she was surprised to see the two people Rin had brought along with him, "Rin, who are these people?"

Rin eyed her, "Who is he?" he countered in an agitated tone, pointing at Greed who was innocently reading through a book he'd picked up from Rin's cupboard.

Freesia looked at her feet like a little girl who just broke the window with her baseball bat, "Uhm... Greed?"

"What?"

Freesia pointed at her 'friend', "His name's Greed. He's a homunculus, just like me."

All three pairs of human eyes and another pair of homunculus' eyes were on her and she couldn't help but make a little yelping sound in the uneasy situation.

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Okay, so this isn't exactly the best situation to put her in. :) Or is it? For the next chap, I have no idea what I'm going to put as throughout these 7 chapters, I have been making things up as I go. Do forgive me for any typos or wrong grammar, because I'm only doing this to relieve stress and I'm very pleased to know that people actually read this crappy story. X-X

Anyway, all I can say would most probably be... Oh, I dunno. What do you guys prefer to happen, Freesia ending up dead in a suicide move to drag Dante in with her in the end or she leaves that matter to the Elric bros and I spare the homunculi's life? (Although one or two wouldn't make it...)

Well, this is just going to be a suggestion for an ending, since I pretty much have most of the events that I was going to put in here implemented in my head. The story may be uploaded slower from this point on though. I've got more homework and I'm not too happy about it. :(

Read and Review, people!


	8. Untamed

The 8th Sin

-Hidden-

Thanks very much to Sarah, who has kindly corrected me on the spelling of the Ororobus tattoo. God, I'm totally helpless at translating all the Japanese words in the anime. They only have Chinese friggin' subtitles! Argh!

Some things will be explained... Maybe. In this chapter, I purely make it up as I go. Sorry!

Anyway, also thanks very much to my other reviewers, thanks for your bits of advices, I'd like to try and apply them as much as possible so this story can be much more interesting for anyone who reads this.

Please read and review!

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Everyone looked at the dark-haired girl. Three with surprise and the guy with the sleeveless top in the background glaring at her over the book he was reading. Rin stepped up to her; placing his hands on her shoulder and asked, in a dangerous tone,

"Freesia... What did you just say this man is?"

Okay, now there definitely was a déjà vu feeling all over again. But she wasn't tempted to just go purely on instinct and run away again. Instead, she freed herself of his grip and stood in front of Greed, almost in a way that made it look as if she were trying to defend him from an unknown force from an unknown source. (Or plainly, something invisible. Worse yet, something that she just imagined. :P)

"Okay, I know you guys aren't very fond of homunculi, but just listen to me for a minute!" she cried, pulling the best pair of puppy-dog eyes she could. Rin wasn't one to give in to cuteness, but in this case, his two companions were the one, who stopped him,

"She did say 'homunculus' didn't she?" Jonathan asked skeptically, eyeing his rival closely.

Rin gave up. He'd been trying to conceal the fact that she was a homunculus from John, but obviously, it wasn't working. Melody knew too, so he half-suspected that she must have told him anyway in a slip of tongue. He turned around to face the other alchemist and said, "Yes, she did say that. She's a homunculus. If what she said earlier on is true, then the man behind her is also one."

Meanwhile, while the three alchemists were having a discussion, the two homunculi were also deep in conversation. Greed had pulled her down to sit on the bed next to him and the first thing he did was sit cross-legged on Rin's bed, "Nice going, genius. I was planning on getting out of here and going somewhere safe. You just HAD to go and blow my cover, didn't you?"

Freesia rolled her eyes skywards, "Exactly WHERE is this safe place you're talking about? If it's Dublith, I'm betting your bar isn't even there anymore, judging by you, being the head honcho there getting dragged out of your turf and taken all the way here. Besides, Rin's nice. He knew I was a homunculus, and he's keeping me here with him. His friends should be alright, too."

Greed huffed, "Yeah right and pigs have wings."

"I'm serious here! Besides, you can just put up your Ultimate Shield and get away from here, easy as a snap of your fingers," For a second, the two of them stared at each other blankly.

Greed broke the silence, "You KNOW about my Ultimate Shield?"

Freesia scratched the back of her head, "No... I'm pretty sure I don't... But... How did I know?" that was so dumb a question, Greed could have punched her in the face for looking so stupid.

"Never mind... Forget I asked you that. Hey, wait a sec. Homunculi are born due to the failure of an alchemization. Who made you?" the sin of greed asked as his companion pondered for a moment.

She looked at her hands. He had a point; if homunculi were created from alchemy, then who created her? Who was she? She may have gained new knowledge from meeting Greed, Pride and Envy, her memories returned to her in small fragments, but what she knew for now wasn't enough to unravel her true identity. Sighing, she let herself fall flat on her back on the bed as she stared up at the ceiling, unable to answer Greed's question.

"I have no idea..." she said quietly, but it was loud enough for Greed to hear her. Just then, she remembered something. She sat up and faced the elder homunculus, "Remember when we were in the Devil's Nest?"

Greed raised an eyebrow at her, "After how you bowled me over? It's pretty hard to forget."

"No, no, that's not what I meant. I mean, when you first saw my Ouroboros tattoo," she cut herself off, wondering how she knew the name of the mark she now despised but shook it off seconds later, convincing herself that it was just a mere part of her memory coming back to her, "You mentioned a man's name. It started with a 'D', if I wasn't mistaken. Who was that person?"

Greed frowned at her and was going to counter her query with a question of his own when Rin interjected, "Freesia, how did you get that man..."

"His name is Greed," Freesia said in an annoyed tone.

Rin grumbled something under his breath, "Fine. Greed. How did you bring him in? Or rather, _WHY_ did you bring him here?"

Freesia was dumbstruck for a moment. Now, what was the reason she brought Greed in earlier...? Ah yes, Pride. But she can't just go and tell them another homunculus named Pride just came by, dragging Greed by the collar and intending to kill him. To add to the list, she can't just tell Rin that she went out playing hero and saved Greed's skin.

In the end, she just described the assaulter, "Well, I just saw Greed being attacked by a military man. Or at least, I think he's in the military. He wears the same blue pants and black boots like you guys do. Uhm... He's kinda tall, slightly taller than me with a moustache and an eye patch. He's got short, black hair by the way and looks to be around his forties or something... Why are you guys looking like statues there?" Freesia asked as the three alchemists in front of her froze at the description.

"Guys?" she tried to snap them out of their trance, but to no avail. Greed merely retreated to reading the book he'd picked up earlier and went to sit at the windowsill, where the cool evening breeze was blowing. He didn't want to be a part of this conversation.

Melody was the first to break the silence, flopping down into a nearby chair, "King Bradley...? That's impossible! He was... Wait… Did he follow the rest of the mercenaries back to HQ or didn't he?"

"Huh?" Now it was Freesia's turn to be clueless.

Rin objected to her idea, "That's nonsense. It must have been someone who looked like the President. A doppelganger, if you like."

Jonathan saw the logic in this, "Probably. But even so, what does the President have to do with a homunculus?" he questioned, turning to look at the homunculus sitting on the windowsill, reading quietly without a care in the world.

As Greed was reading, he was listening in to their conversation at the same time. He sighed as he flipped to a fresh page in the book, 'Oh, you alchemists have no idea how deep in this homunculus business the 'President' is in...' he thought to himself. Why would he bother wanting to tell them anything? It wasn't as if Pride was going to come and hunt him down soon. Pride played an important role in this place called Central.

Freesia hadn't a clue of what they were talking about so she thought she'd go down to the kitchen since she was hungry. However, she didn't like the idea of going downstairs alone. Her solution was simple; she walked over to the window, grabbed a surprised Greed by the wrist and dragged him along with her to the kitchen. She did inform the alchemists of her whereabouts before she left the room.

"I'll be having dinner if anyone needs me," she called before she exited the room. Even when she did, Rin followed her outside the room for a bit and stopped her for a moment,

"Are you sure you're not going to run away from the house?"

"Does it look like I'm going to?" she asked cutely, not releasing her hold of Greed's wrist, who didn't like being dragged around.

"Yes, as a matter of fact."

Freesia pouted, "I won't. Besides, if I leave, there aren't any more fridges for me to raid for a midnight snack," she said flippantly, earning a smile from the purple-haired half-chimera.

He seemed to trust her at this point, "Okay, go ahead but your friend here stays with you. I don't want you letting him out of the window or anything."

"What do you take me for, a burglar?" Greed grumbled behind the female homunculus.

Rin ignored him, "Anyway, Melody, John and I have some work to do. I'd appreciate it if you don't disturb us and make sure I don't see any of my furniture ruined by the time I'm done, okay?"

Freesia didn't like it very much whenever he started bossing her around, but he was just taking care of his property, "Yes, _DADDY, _I'll try not to turn this whole place upside-down!" she said exasperatedly and before Greed could free himself from her grip, she broke into a jog, forcing Greed to be pulled along like a dog on a leash.

Once they reached the kitchen and Greed had freed himself from her deadly grip, he went and said, "You know, you have got to be the weirdest person I have ever met."

Freesia sighed, "Keep that up and you'll find yourself mailed to Pride's doorstep as a birthday present," she said in an annoyed tone. Pulling out a bottle of grape juice from the fridge and two cups from a cabinet, she filled the two cups and offered one to Greed as she sat to enjoy hers.

Neither said a word for a minute before Freesia broke the silence, "I know what you mean by me being the weirdest person. I can't help it alright? Back in the Devil's Nest, I was cornered. I felt pressured and I barely knew anything about myself. As these wacky accidents keep on happening to me, more and more of my memory, those of which I thought I'd forgotten for good, start coming back to me. Including some of you."

Greed frowned at her. He didn't remember ever seeing her, so he had to ask, "Do you remember where you've seen me?"

Freesia stared off into space, "Well... not exactly, but I do recall sitting in a chair near a huge house in a forested area. There was a woman standing beside me, but I can't remember her face. She said something to me and through the windows, I saw you. That woman said your name was Greed. Then she mentioned some more names and pointed at some more faces That's just about it," she finished, taking another sip of grape juice.

The sin of greed said nothing at this point. If she knew all of them, then how come none of them knew who she was?

"Anyway, let's get re-acquainted, shall we? As you know, I'm Freesia. It's sort of a miracle that you didn't actually forget my name. I can do a lot of things when I'm pressurized like make my nails elongate, predict my opponents' movements and turn myself to water, just to name a few and I've got an almost never-ending appetite unless I keep it under control," she said plainly, filling her glass with some more juice and downing the whole thing, "And you? I didn't get to know much about you."

Greed eyed her suspiciously, "Why would you want to know more about me?"

She just smiled coyly at him, "Because I've got a never-ending hunger for knowledge?"

That sounded a lot like him. He chuckled and gave in. He may not like her at all, but something about her made it possible for someone who actually loathes her come to like her eventually. She radiates that friendly air that makes people feel comfortable around her. Greed was no exception, "Name's Greed. You know I'm a homunculus, you know about my Ultimate Shield and currently, I'm stuck in Central with an annoying little homunculus who's sitting right across of me, drinking grape juice."

"Hey, I'm not annoying!" she cried, leaning over to slap him playfully on the arm.

Meanwhile...

"How come you guys never told me about those two?" John asked, feeling a bit hurt for not being informed.

Melody was playing peacemaker at the moment as Rin was giving his back to his two companions, working on his desk with some paperwork, "You never asked. Besides, I couldn't be bothered. I was way too busy this morning and I had to do some extra grocery shopping. Really, Freesia eats just about everything in the fridge and she doesn't even gain 1 gram out of all that food!" The winged alchemist grumbled, sounding a lot like a disgruntled father complaining about his spoiled child.

John looked at Melody, who had been apologizing to him for not telling him, saying something that sounded suspiciously like 'Rin made me promise not to tell you'. He sighed, flipping through some more of Rin's paperwork that had piled up at an unbelievable speed throughout his two-day absence in Dublith...

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A chimera sat behind its bars in a dark room with a single bulb hung in the ceiling, illuminating the room in its dim glow. The slow, ragged breathing of the seemingly incomplete beast echoed through the emptiness of the small chamber as a woman entered, an arrogant smirk set on her face.

"Hello there, Demetrius. I never thought you'd live through the transmutation," she paused to giggle for a moment, amused at the thought, "Do you smell anything familiar?" she asked, bending down to look at the beast's slitted, red eyes.

It looked up at her with a sad expression and a very faint scent reached it's sharp nose. It suddenly sprang from it's seated position, reaching it's claws out almost desperately at the woman, who had stood not too far away nor to near to the cage.

"...Li...Lilith...!" it rasped, clawing the air almost feverishly as tears rolled down it's face.

"That's right, Demetrius... Our daughter's still alive. Lilith is still alive... Will you fetch her for me? I've got too many things to do..." the beast stopped moving and retreated to a far corner of its cage, looking down at itself.

The woman laughed, "Oh don't worry, Demetrius... I'm sure she recognizes you. You've stuck to her for so long, she can actually tell who it was just by listening to your footsteps..." with that, she merely unlocked the door to the cage and left the room.

Once outside, Envy was sitting around, doing apparently nothing and out of boredom was feeding Gluttony with the day's newspaper, page by page as the glutton literally chomped them down.

"Envy, I'd like you and Demetrius to go and collect someone for me," she said in a sickly sweet voice as the green-haired homunculus looked at her,

"Why him? I can just do it by myself," he said flatly, tossing Gluttony the rest of the newspaper and standing up.

The woman standing in front of him smiled, "Because he knows the target very well. And I just want to make sure if she's worth it."

It didn't take very long for the cage to be left empty and soon, Envy was following the lead of a wolf-bear chimera through the town as the moon hid behind the clouds, making the night darker still as if the celestial star was afraid of the event that was to come...

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Uh... I think I went a bit more overboard. I re-read this and went, "WTF did I just make Greed and Freesia say? It was utterly pointless, but I had no other ideas. In fact, I wasn't actually thinking of their conversation... Well... at least she revealed something that I'd planned up till today. :)

Okay, so I guess that's all there is to this chapter. I'll try to make the other homunculi appear more often, because they play quite a role in this story.

Please read and review!


	9. Father, part 1

The 8th Sin

-Father, part 1-

Ah... So tired... When I was writing out the draft for chapter 9, 10 and 11 last night, there were a lot of things that I couldn't sort out and I ended up dumping all three chapter drafts down the drain... Hopefully so far this story hasn't been boring to all you readers out there.

Anyway, I'm suffering from a headache as I type this chapter down, but I'm feeling well enough to type down a really nice-looking scene in this chapter. :)

Please R&R!

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As Rin was working in his room, with John already half-asleep on his bed with a book over his face and his arms folded behind his head, he thought he saw something moving out of the corner of his eyes. Looking up from his papers and out of the window which wasn't too far away from his table, he only saw the dark night and the lights from the lamp posts outside looking back at him. He frowned and pushed a lock of his long bangs behind his ear, dismissing it as just a fragment of his imagination.

Melody had just finished sorting out a stack of papers that Rin had done and wiped the sweat off her brow with her handkerchief, "Hey Rin, are you sure it's safe to stick two homunculi in the same room? Since when have you trusted her anyway? You were all the rage to just kill her back in the HQ."

Rin put his pen down and stood up, walking towards his painting. He picked up a few brushes and his palette, sitting down in his favorite stool and started painting again, trying to relieve himself of some stress, "I don't know, Melody... I've never felt this way towards someone before. I mean, yeah, when I first met her, I felt like killing her. My father, according to a lot of people, was killed by a creature that was neither a human nor a chimera. Then, through more investigation, I found out about homunculi. Incomplete humans who were neither human nor chimera."

Melody just watched as her friend added a touch of red to the mouth of a lion, devouring its prey. His shoulders were trembling, as were his hands as he dropped his brush in defeat, "I don't know what to do... I feel like I'm hypnotized when I'm with her... But then, I can't deny my own feelings for her. I like her, Melody. Too much... too much that it's confusing me..." he said shakily, dropping his palette to the ground and covering his face with his hands guiltily.

The red-haired alchemist behind him had a pained look on her face. She had feelings for Rin for the longest time, but she wasn't brave enough to tell him anything. She stood up and walked over to him, wrapping her hands around him in an attempt to stop the trembling. A tear had slipped out of the corner of her eye as she whispered in his ear,

"It's alright... just do what your heart tells you to. No one will blame you for your judgment. I'll be cheering you on, no matter what. Just remember that," she stroked his hair gently, wiping her tears away with her fingers.

John, who was on the bed, saw the whole thing. He wasn't exactly asleep, but he just watched them in silence, still pretending to be sleeping. His mind wandered off to his late younger sister, and to the event that led to him losing his right eye, forcing him to replace it with an automail eye. He decided not to think it over too much and closed his eyes, letting the two other occupants of the room their privacy.

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Downstairs, Freesia had somehow managed to keep Greed in a conversation long enough for her to discover that there were all in all, seven homunculi excluding her and in a slip of tongue (was the grape juice kept too long that it became wine?), he mentioned that a woman named Dante would dispose of him as soon as she saw him for running away from her.

"Dante..." Freesia repeated, in a half-drunken state. Her cheeks were a shade of pink and her head was now on the table, resting on her arms. Well, naturally, being a homunculus, it took her a much shorter time to recover from her drunken state. Unfortunately for her, she learnt nothing from the name itself as her mind wasn't functioning properly at the time.

It didn't take the two long to stop drinking and go to the living room to cool off instead. It was rather stuffy in the kitchen, so the cooler living room was a good change. Both of them were extremely bored and a bit groggy from the little drinking binge, sitting on either ends of a long couch meant for three people, their situations worsened with the addition of a developing headache. Freesia wasn't in a particularly good shape, strong regenerative abilities or none she ended up falling sideways and resting her head in Greed's lap.

It was quite normal for him as countless drunken girls always seem to have the tendency of doing that when they couldn't take anymore alcohol in their systems and unconsciously, his hand had gone down to touch her head. He allowed a few strands of her hair to slip through his fingers, soft and smooth in his touch.

She sighed as he repeated the process, feeling that the little gesture made her feel warm and fuzzy inside and said without thinking, "You're nice, Greed... I don't think you... (Hic!) Deserve the name... I think that's why I like you..." he stopped stroking her hair at that point and as if reading his mind, she turned over so she'd be lying down on her back, looking up at the muscular homunculus with glazed over eyes and smiling at him, her cheeks still bright pink. Whether she was drunk or merely embarrassed by what she had just said, he wouldn't know.

He smiled at her little confession. Drunken or not, he knew she'd meant it and ruffled her hair affectionately, earning a little giggle from the younger homunculi in his lap, "Aren't you a little too young for romance," it was more of a statement than a question and Freesia just replied by getting into a more comfortable position, snuggling into him so her face was in his side.

Well, that was enough of an answer for him. As he sat there, doing particularly nothing but watch his companion slowly doze off, a sound from outside reached his ears. He may not be completely sober, but he knows an intruder when he hears one. He turned to look at the window over his shoulder and saw a pair of red, slitted eyes glaring back at him hungrily, the owner of those menacing eyes breathing raggedly, both clawed hands pressed onto the windowpane. It was clearly a chimera, even if its whole being couldn't be seen through the curtains.

Greed stared wide-eyed at the creature, wondering how a beast such as the one he was looking at could be out here in the open. The next few moves were completely by reflex. The beast had released an angry war cry and broke through the window with its claws extended, intending to rip Greed apart. Without actually thinking, the homunculus had put his shield up and jumped away from the couch with Freesia in his arms, who was sleeping like a log.

Looking down at where the chimera had scratched him, he saw three faint claw marks. Whatever this thing was, it wasn't one to be underestimated. The chimera had knocked a table over, getting up on all fours and growling at him. The creature held one hand out, eyes locked on the girl Greed held in his arms and rasped,

"Lilith...!"

Now this was freaky. A chimera that can mistaken Freesia for its own child? It advanced towards the Ultimate Shield, who was unfazed by its actions and was glaring at the creature as if daring it to take another step. When it came too close, Greed kicked it back forcefully and with a howl, it fell to the floor with a heavy thud.

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Rin heard a window break. HIS window, to be exact. Melody released him as she heard the noise too and John sat up almost immediately, tossing the book he had on his face carelessly aside, "That sounds like trouble," he said off-handedly, getting up and grabbing a rod from his belt.

"Oh? Sounds more like a chimera breaking into a house to me," said a slurred voice. The three State Alchemists turned and faced the window that was the closest to John and saw a young man perched up on the windowsill with a smug smirk on his face. If the situation wasn't so tense, John would have ended up laughing at the man's ridiculous hairdo, but he didn't.

"Who are you?" Rin asked, using a pencil to draw an alchemic circle and using it to create a jamadhar. The stranger stepped inside casually and leaned against the windowsill.

"Just someone coming out in search of some fun," he said with a smirk as he eyed Melody hiding behind Rin in amusement.

"'Fraid you got the wrong place," John growled, charging his rod with electricity and lunged forwards to hit the palm tree. Even with the lack of space, he managed to cartwheel out of the way, landing on Rin's table and ruining some of his work.

Rin stared wide-eyed as he saw his hard work being trampled on, "Get off of my table!" he cried, swinging his jamadhar at the flexible young man at an incredible speed. Their guest didn't evade the move completely though. There was a large cut on his arm as he stepped away from the alchemists' range of attack.

He looked mildly impressed, "I never expected you to be able to alter the speed in which your body moves. Applying alchemy on your own body so it would be more streamlined and would move faster," the olive-haired young man smirked as his wound closed before their very eyes.

"A homunculus..." Melody said, leaning on the wall closest to her as she was armless and probably the only alchemist in the room who can't use the alchemy she specializes in.

"I'll ask again; who are you?" Rin now hand two jamadhars, one on each hand and both were ready for battle. One of his arms felt a bit numb as a result of his alchemy. It was a price he had to pay for improving his body condition and at the rate this was going, his arm was going to be that way for at least fifteen minutes.

"Well, since you all are so interested, I may as well tell you. As that pretty face pointed out, I'm a homunculus. My name's Envy," he said smugly, smirking at the alchemists standing before him.

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Downstairs, Greed had long put Freesia down to confront the angry chimera who was now fighting claw and tooth to get to her, calling her 'Lilith' throughout the fight. This chimera was no normal chimera as it could leave scratches on even Greed's shield. He could easily knock the beast down, but for some reason, it just keeps on coming back for more. At one point, Greed just had to stumble over a chair that 'conveniently' placed itself behind him and made him fall flat on his back and the creature wasted no time in attacking the temporarily 'defenseless' homunculus.

It brought down its paws to slash through Greed's face, but he was faster. He grabbed its slender forearms and kicked it off of him forcefully. It fell back with a yelp and Greed picked himself up, panting. Gosh, he'd forgotten the last time he'd fought this long and hard against a mere chimera. Oh wait, this was the first time. When Greed saw where the beast had landed, he cursed under his breath.

Freesia got up slowly, shaking her head as she did so and looked around. The living room was a total mess, "What the...?"

Standing mere inches away from her was the very same chimera that Greed had been fighting off and as soon as it saw her, it called out that unfamiliar name again, "Li-Lilith...!" It reached out one paw towards her, as if to touch her and she just sat there, frozen. The world around her seemed to be at a standstill at the mention of the name.

Flashes of her previous life appeared before her eyes in an instant. The face of the smiling man she had recalled once in Dublith, walking hand-in-hand with her parents, being bed-ridden due to a disease, all those childhood memories came to her before she recalled an important memory; the day she died.

/Flashback/

_It may not have been possible for someone to recall the events on the day they die, nor does she know anyone who has ever done it before. She was about four or five then and was born as a very weak child._

_She was cradled in her father's arms, her breathing coming in short gasps as her lungs were slowly failing her. Beads of sweat ran down the sides of her face as she fought to live on, but there was no hope. The doctor had left not too long ago, saying that there was nothing he could do for her. Freesia couldn't remember for the life of her if her mother was there at her side, but her father was there for her, crying. The father whom she thought would always be cheerful and never shed a tear. _

_Her eyesight was getting more blurred now as everything starting fading out, "I can't see you, father..." she breathed, her small hands gripping her father's loose shirt as he hugged her._

_"It's alright Lilith... Father's still here... I won't let you go..." he whispered, his whole being shuddering at the knowledge that his only child was dying before his very eyes._

_"Father...? Where... are you...?" she asked as her eyes fluttered close and she drew her last breath, a lone tear running down the side of her face, mingling with her sweat. Everything went blank._

/End of Flashback/

Freesia's eyes welled up with tears as she looked at the chimera in front of her, "Father..." she breathed, tears escaping from the corners of her eyes.

She held her hand up to touch the chimera, but before she did, Greed had rammed the beast into a wall, thinking that it meant to hurt her. She snapped out of her trance when she realized what was happening.

"What are you waiting for? Move it!" Greed shouted at her over his shoulder, holding the chimera off to give her some time to move out of his way while he fought it off. But what she did next was something totally unexpected. The small-framed homunculus walked up to him and hugged him from behind, burying her face in his back,

"Let him go..." she cried, her tears flowing freely now.

Greed looked at her in disbelief, "What? Are you out of your mind?" he growled.

She shook her head, "Greed, that creature... he... he's my father..."

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Hahaha! I felt good when I finished this chapter! (Laughs away like a maniac)

I hope you guys feel good to when you finish reading. Tell me what you think and I'll see what I can do to make you still feel good after reading chapter 10. )

Read and Review!


	10. Father, part 2

The 8th Sin

-Father, part 2-

Okay... it's 10p.m. when I typed this chap down, believe it or not. P

Anyway, I don't want to say much up here except for s a few stuff. One of them is;

I don't own FMA. I think I've been acting like I own it. O.O;;

The second thing is; I'm very thankful to all my reviewers out there. ) Your reviews make my day complete. Knowing the fact that you all enjoyed my story so far just makes my day even better. )

I hope this chapter makes you feel the same way.

Oh, here's the last thing;

Please read and review!

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Freesia was sobbing now, quietly pleading for Greed to release the now suffocating chimera that he held a few good inches off the ground by the neck. What she just said baffled him. That beast was her father?

Now, he wasn't naturally nice, but he figured that if that thing was in her past, it would be best if she dealt with it personally. Huffing in an almost regretful tone, the Ultimate Shield released it, leaving it an untidy heap on the floor. The cold, sleek surface of his shield disappeared with a soft sizzling sound and that was when Freesia released him and went to hug the chimera, crying into its dark fur which was the exact same color of her hair.

It seemed to purr in her embrace, lifting up a clawed hand to gently pat her back as its deformed limbs couldn't return her hug, "Father... who did this to you...?" she cried, still clinging onto the chimera she called 'father' as he called her name raspily again.

Greed just watched the reunion, one hand jammed in his pocket, leaving the other one on standby in case their 'guest' pulled a fast one and pounced on him or anything.

Instead of the chimera assaulting him, the sounds of someone falling down the stairs reached their ears. They all turned to face the source of the sound and saw Rin lying crumpled at the foot of the stairs, bloodied and bruised, writhing in pain.

"Rin!" Freesia stood up, approaching the fallen half-chimera who was trying to pick himself off the floor, falling back down in almost every attempt.

Melody came down shortly after that and went for Rin's pet dog and a stray cat just outside the window, "Sorry Rin, I'll buy you a new dog tomorrow!" she called to him over her shoulder, pulling out three pieces of paper with alchemic circles on each of them. Two of them hit the animals and with a flash of alchemic light, the two were joined to form a beast.

Envy had just jumped into the living room as a mighty bolt of thunder struck the floor where he had previously stood, leaving a hole in it as John chased after the homunculus, who looked like he was actually enjoying the little cat and mouse chase. The black-haired alchemist was not at all amused; instead he looked like he could murder someone.

"Ah, there you are," said the palm tree look-alike, performing a perfect back flip and attempting to land a kick in Greed's face, to which the taller homunculus merely caught his leg and flung him across the room. He picked himself out of the rubble, a clearly visible cut on the back of his head bleeding profusely and actually showing his cracked skull and partially, his brain. The wound closed in a matter of seconds as he stood up, only to be knocked down again by Melody's chimera, which started biting and ripping him apart on first sight.

The skinny little man growled at the pain and kicked the creature off of him. His right arm, which was in between the beast's powerful jaws, came right off of its socket when it refused to let go.

Blood painted the wall a deep shade of crimson as Envy suppressed a scream, clutching his severed arm as it regenerated. Taking on the three alchemists would have been easy, if only the stupid chimera that he had taken along with him would help!

"Demetrius, you do know what will happen to you if you refuse to follow what she says, right?" Envy hollered over to the beast, which was cowering in a corner, clutching its head. Its still human mind was fighting against its bestial instincts and obviously, it was a painful process.

"What do you want?" Freesia growled, towering over the smaller homunculus. He just looked at her boredly,

"I was just sent here to fetch you two. Obviously, these people here are making my job more difficult," he said with an annoyed lilt in his tone, standing up effortlessly as his body completely regenerated, flawlessly.

"That didn't give you a reason to hurt them!"

"Oh? Would it be reason enough if I told you they started ganging up on me? Besides, your mother's worried sick about you. She sent me after you," he said silkily, smirking at Freesia's bewildered expression.

"...My... mother...?" she repeated slowly as the other occupants of the room just stood ready, knowing just how much of a threat the nimble palm tree homunculus was. Freesia looked down at her feet, trying to recall how her mother had once looked, but to know avail. Come to think of it, she hadn't many memories of seeing her mother. Most of her life was spent with her father. He taught her everything he knew. Her mother never seemed to care, neither was she ever in one place.

Envy took this as a sign that she was curious. She had taken in some of Greed's charming traits in such a short time, but it was worth it; he was sure she was dying to see her mother again. Extending a hand towards the female homunculus, he said, "Come with me, your mother's waiting."

She looked at his hand, then at his cocky face and back again. Slowly, she raised a hand, as if she was going to accept it and before the alchemists could stop her, a surprising someone voiced out before they did,

"He's lying, Freesia! Don't do it!" It was Greed. Her blank eyes locked with his for a moment before she faced Envy once more, looking down at his invitation. Sighing, she let her hand fall into Envy's. The green-haired homunculus smirked triumphantly, but that smirk didn't stay there very long.

Freesia's hand hovered over Envy's wrist, where her fragile yet powerful fingers clamped around Envy's wrist, breaking it. With a surprised yelp, the smaller homunculus broke free of the female's grip, clutching his broken wrist.

Her moves were sudden, swift, like Pride's as she went up to Envy and kicked him in the side of the face with strength that would have matched Envy's own and knocked him down to the ground, leaving him temporarily defenseless. Using that small opportunity, she'd performed a somersault and landed on Envy's torso, knocking the wind out of him and started pounding her fists in his face, leaving no space for him to breath.

"You're lying!" she screamed, hitting her prey over and over again, not caring how much blood he shed, "She never was there for me! She never was there when I was on my deathbed! She never cared! Never! NEVER!" she shrieked, hitting the sin of envy with whatever strength she could muster, unconsciously activating her Ultimate Shield around her fists to make the impact greater.

The others watched on as she continued to pummel the now unconscious Envy, who had had several concussions in succession and could not regenerate as fast as she could hit him. His head was literally a pulp now and the only thing that stopped her was her chimera father, who placed a paw on her shoulder. The simple gesture made her stop instantly, looking at the beastly creature with tears in her eyes as she got off of the victim of her wrath.

Melody had long disposed of the incomplete chimera she had created and said, "Is that enough to kill him?"

Greed huffed, "Expect him to be back on his feet in a few minutes. Don't drop your guard now."

Melody nodded at this and John merely kicked Envy's motionless body in disgust, "Don't you homunculi die once your heads are ripped off?"

Greed shook his head, "It takes more than just that to get rid of us."

John was going to ask what it was when Envy's body twitched and his head started coming together again. As Greed had predicted, the once motionless body was now in full motion, stopping at the window when his head had completely regenerated and said, "The next time I see you, I'll be sure to rip you apart."

"Well then, why don't you take a second beating right here, right now then?" John threatened, charging his rod once more with electricity and taking a step forward as a means of challenging the homunculus.

He chuckled, "It wouldn't be a problem if I had to take you on one by one. Unfortunately, I haven't any back-up, as you have four behind you," he said sharply, silencing the Storm Front Alchemist. With a huff, he then continued, "I wasn't lying about your mother. She'll be waiting, 'Life'," that said, Envy disappeared without a trace into the night.

Greed frowned at where Envy once stood. He didn't like the homunculus' tone one bit. He was just about to go and call it a night when a howl erupted from Demetrius, Freesia's chimera father who was on the floor, clutching his head again, this time curled up in a fetal position.

"Father? Are you alright?" Freesia knelt down next to the chimera and attempted to pat him on the head. She got an unpleasant surprise when he snarled at her and snapped his powerful jaws at her, almost as if he was going to bite her. Luckily, she pulled her hand back before he did so.

Melody found this disturbing, "You're Freesia, right? Get away from him!" she cried, motioning for the girl to move away.

"But..."

"No buts! If he really was your father before the transmutation, then I can safely say he's losing his sanity!"

"That's not true!" Freesia countered angrily, frowning at the Half-Breed Alchemist.

Melody sighed exasperatedly, "Every human who's been transmuted with an animal has a certain length of time where they can retain their human-like thinking. Obviously, being combined with more than one animal is pushing your father to his limits! It's no use Freesia, he's too far gone."

"SHUT UP!" Freesia bellowed, covering her ears. At that exact time, Demetrius was gone. His human side had vanished. Without hesitating, he roared, pouncing on the nearest person to him; Freesia. She was taken aback as he bit her in the shoulder, his sharp fangs cutting right through her bones and earning screams of pain from the homunculus below him.

"Freesia!" Greed surprised himself; why was he so worried of her well-being? Rin, who had also called out her name at the same time, looked at the homunculus with utmost loathe as did Greed to him and they stayed that way for a moment before an agonized yelp ended the whole din.

A lance could be seen protruding from the beast, right through where the heart should be. Both assailant and the assaulted had shocked looks on their faces, one not being able to see the attack coming and the other attacking merely on the thought of defending herself.

Warm blood trickled down her arm like a river before the lance vanished with a sizzling sound, returning it to her human hand. Her whole body was trembling as she realized what had just happened.

With a low moan, the chimera fell on its side, eyes slowly but surely fluttering closed as its life slowly left its now useless body. Freesia stayed lying on her back, the wound her father had given her now completely healed and her hand still stuck through his chest. Her breathing was labored and she prayed as hard as she could that this was just a sick nightmare.

Of course, reality didn't want it that way. She had to accept what reality gave her. She pulled her hand out of Demetrius' chest and brought it up to her face so she could see it. Drops of blood dripped from her fingers and fell, one drop after another, on her pale face. She was shaking even more now as a long suppressed cry forced its way out of her throat and she finally screamed.

It was horrible. One miserable event after another. If this was the price she had to pay to discover who she really was, where she really belonged, she'd rather not find out. But as reality would have it, she wouldn't be seeing a happy ending any time soon. As she continued to wail, now crying over her father's dead body, Melody had done the same, burying her face in Rin's shoulder. She knew how it felt. It had happened to her before.

John merely looked on. To him, this was of no significance to him. Everyone goes through it one day, one way or another. Another surprising revelation from the other homunculus present in the room made Rin turn green with envy.

Greed had actually hugged the hysterical young lady protectively, something that even made him question his own actions. He was comforting her.

On a normal occasion, he wouldn't be doing what he was doing at that time. Something about the enigmatic being who was crying into his shoulder at that time made him feel her pain, made him feel sorry for her.

In spite of her hysterical state, she managed to ask him why it had to be this way and why it had to happen to her. He said nothing, he just held her. Reality was never nice to begin with. Everything felt wrong to her, everything was a 'why'. She was right on one thing though,

The biggest question on his mind was, "Why?"

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Yeah! Chapter 10 done:)

Nothing much to say here.

Okay, well, this just about wraps up chapter 10, so leave a nice comment and chapter 11 will be up in a jiffy.

Please Read and Review!


	11. Retracing My Steps

The 8th Sin

-Calm waters-

Hello, all! To all those loyal readers, I'm very thankful to know that you're still reading... And to others, who aren't very loyal readers, thanks for reviewing and giving me ideas. :)

Anyway, I'm typing up this story as well as a series of short one-shots. One of them is called 'Hanabi', which only has one chapter and is already completed (I'll give you three guesses whose one-shot 'Hanabi' is.) and I'm working on a three-chaptered one titled 'Chimera'. It's for the 'Devil's Nest' crew, excluding the head honcho, I'm afraid.

Oh well, enough about that. I've got this chapter up and now, let's enjoy it. :)

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Rin was in the hospital the next day to treat his wounds and was now resting in his bed, looking outside the window and recalling the night's event. Things haven't gone right. At least not before he was assigned to work under Colonel Roy Mustang.

John had volunteered to keep an eye on both Greed and Freesia and he was grateful for that. God knows what more they can do after Freesia's display of power last night. But at the same time, he felt that it wasn't necessary to keep security that tight around them. Heck, the poor girl cried herself to sleep! The next thought that came through his mind made him frown and made his blood boil.

That other homunculus.

Greed.

Rin had a feeling that man was going to take away the one thing he held dear at that time; Freesia. He sat up, grimacing. Pain shot through his body as he gently touched his broken ribs. Looking at the clock hung on the wall, it read 2.30 p.m, "A week and ten more hours to go... HOPEFULLY..." he muttered to himself miserably.

At the same time, Melody stepped into the room, bringing with her a small something wrapped in a fairly large handkerchief with feather motives on it, Marcus aging along close behind her. He looked at her, surprised and her cheeks took on a shade of pink, which he didn't really notice thanks to her red hair...

"Melody, what are you doing here? I thought I told you I was fine."

Her eyes darted around nervously. She had never been stuck in the same room as Rin alone (I know Marcus is there, but hey, it's like he doesn't exist, the poor li'l pipsqueak.) before.

"Um... I... I took the day off. I got a bit worried," she said with a smile as she dared herself to sit in the chair next to the bed. She found herself sitting in the wretched chair a few moments later. Marcus greeted Rin with a cheerful purr to which Rin replied with a smile. It was rare to see Rin smile. For one thing, he knows not many people like him for what he was; a half-chimera.

Another was that in spite of his cold front, he was lonely. He needed company and yet he's too shy to tell anyone. Sometimes, Melody wondered how Rin met Jonathan in the first place. Oh well, that was all in the past. Rin has grown a bit more talkative than the first time they met and makes smart-ass comments more often. She watched him as Marcus taught him a special handshake that most probably came from Breda and it made her feel happy just to see him enjoy himself in the presence of children.

Looking down at her hands, she just realized that she hasn't given him the little wrapped-up package, "Uh... Rin...?" she caught his attention rather easily and when his eyes were trained in hers, a shiver ran down her spine as she placed the package next to him on the bed, "Here's something for you..."

Rin turned to look at Marcus, who was squeaking happily and gestured eating, "You cooked something for me?" he asked, motioning to the package that he now recognized as a lunch box. Melody nodded shyly and nearly jumped out of her skin when Rin patted her hand, "Thanks," he said serenely, smiling at her. If she were an ice cube, everyone could have seen her melt into a puddle of water but instead she looked as if she was going to die of heat. That made Rin sort of worry,

"Are you okay? Your face is all red," he said, reaching over to touch her forehead. Before he did so, she stood up and took a few steps away from the chair,

"I'm fine! I'm fine! Never better!" she cried in a near-hysterical tone, laughing nervously.

Rin and Marcus exchanged puzzled looks at her behavior but he went and started to eat his lunch anyway. Marcus watched him eat and the winged alchemist muttered to the little chimera boy, "Hospital food stinks to high heavens..."

Melody's goblin-like sibling laughed, rolling on the bed Rin was resting on. Clamping the chopsticks he was using to eat between his teeth, Rin held one hand out to tickle Marcus' belly, making the little boy howl with laughter.

"Rin, stop that! Were in a hospital, for goodness' sake!" Melody said in a hushed tone, ushering Marcus off of the bed.

Rin pouted, "It's my ward for now. Besides, we're the only ones in this room," he said dismissively before he resumed eating again, "By the way, how's Freesia?"

The red-headed alchemist smiled, "She's alright now, I guess. She was still asleep when I visited her this morning."

Rin paused to swallow his food, "Was her friend still there?"

Melody giggled, "Are you kidding? She wouldn't let go of him! You know, I think they make a cute couple, even if they are homunculi."

The chopsticks in Rin's hands threatened to snap in half when he heard that coming out of Melody's mouth. Cute couple? No way! Not if he could help it, at least!

----------------------------------Meanwhile----------------------------------------------------------

Freesia was sound asleep in Rin's bed, blanket up to her waist and both arms wrapped around Greed's. Yes, you read the sentence correctly; she's hugging Greed's arm.

Greed lay on the bed next to her, wide awake and with one arm behind his head as he constantly looked to see if her grip on him had loosened. Unfortunately, through the night up till now, she still held him in a vice grip. Surprisingly, this whole thing was testing his patience. He just learned that Freesia wasn't a heavy sleeper nor was she a light sleeper. As a matter of fact, she hibernates! Once she falls asleep, nothing could wake her unless she woke up herself and from the looks of her, it doesn't look like she was going to wake up anytime soon!

Greed sighed and tried pulling his arms out of her grip for the umpteenth time. No go. She didn't even stir. However, his golden chance came earlier than expected. Her bangs had poked into her eye so she had to let him go and brush her hair off her face. (Hey, that can make her move!)

'Freedom, finally!' Greed thought gleefully and was just sitting up, getting ready to leave the room when a pair of slender arms snaked around his waist and pulled him back down on the bed. Greed cursed under his breath and looked down to see Freesia snuggling up to his chest, fast asleep.

He was just thinking of another escape plan when John came into the room. It was impossible not to laugh at how helpless the homunculus looked at that time and John strained to suppress a laugh.

Greed glared at the alchemist, "One word out of you and I'll break your neck."

"Go ahead. That is, IF you can get out of bed!" with that, John left the room, laughing away.

Greed could feel his blood pressure rising. He was just going to bolt for the door and beat the Storm Front Alchemist to a pulp but unfortunately, having Freesia clinging on to him like a koala made it impossible for him to do so. He gave up trying to escape and ended up lying back down in defeat.

Freesia sighed when he stopped struggling and held him tighter, mumbling something in her sleep. Her prisoner sighed too, in exasperation as he gave her a playful knock on the head and muttered, "Stubborn kid..."

She smiled at that and turned her head so she could look at him. Her eyes fluttered open to meet his, both pair having the same shade of violet as she smiled and said, "I'm not stubborn, just possessive."

"Why, you little...! You weren't asleep!" he cried, half-angry and half-exasperated as he attempted to shove her off of him, but she held on.

His captor laughed almost melodically, "Hey Greed, did you have any idea how cuddly you are?"

"No, and I don't really intend to find out. Get off!"

"Why? I thought you like it," she said teasingly, hanging onto the muscular homunculus as if for dear life.

To him, this was like quarreling with a seven-year old, "I would if you don't cling on to me as if I'm a life support system or something!"

"Meaning to say if I let you go now, you'd let me hug you?" she teased him further; purposely lengthening their little 'game' as she also learned that Greed was a sore loser.

"I can't say. One thing's for sure; if you don't let go of me now, we'd both... ARGH!" all the writhing and shoving finally pushed the two off the edge of the bed, Greed landing painfully on his back and Freesia right on top of him in an awkward position. Her face was merely inches away from his as she laughed,

"Sorry 'bout that. But it was fun, wasn't it? Wanna do it again?"

Greed huffed, "I beg to differ. Now get off of me."

She giggled, "Hey Greed, wanna give Rin a heart attack?"

He chuckled and picked up the book he'd neglected the night before and opened to the page where he'd stopped reading, "Don't feel like it."

Freesia frowned and pouted, "Okay, I'll get straight to the point. I want to go back to Dublith," she announced, crossing her arms over her chest. Greed looked at her as if she'd grown a second head and asked,

"Why?"

"I've been wanting to go back home ever since I arrived here a few days ago. So, are you going to help me or not?"

Greed's smirk disappeared from his face. He sighed and resumed reading for a moment before saying, "I've lost everything there. I don't have a reason to go back."

His companion fell silent at that. She sat down on the bed with him and said, "How do you know you've lost everything? You weren't even conscious when you left."

She had a point there and when he shifted his gaze to her, she gave him a broad smile that would have made Lust proud of her, "Let's make a bet, shall we? When we reach Dublith, I'm betting we find something that used to belong to you. To add to the list, I'm betting I can find something interesting about us homunculi."

"And what makes you so sure you're going to win?" he asked, a smirk creeping back onto his face.

She grinned at him, "Because I'm Freesia."

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Downstairs, John was just listening to the radio while making himself something to eat when he started feeling uneasy. It was too quiet... For a minute there, the two upstairs were having quite a lot of fun making such a racket. Grabbing the last cookie off his plate and downing the last of his milk, Jonathan Winrain went upstairs to check on them. Upon opening the door, he had the shock of his life.

The two homunculi were gone. Vanished. Poof. Just like that.

The Storm Front Alchemist cursed under his breath and started panicking. He hated to admit this, but he's doomed for sure if Rin finds out. Hey wait; he could still zap Rin's wings... But that wasn't the case. He leaned out of the window with the hopes of catching a glimpse of the two, but to no avail. They were gone.

"Shit... And this just HAD to happen when I'm around! Why can't those two disappear while Rin's on the job?" John released a string of colorful swear words to no one in particular and grabbed his coat to search around town for them, "Stupid homunculi!" he cried out loud as he stormed off.

---------------------------------Meanwhile-----------------------------------------------------------

"Ah-choo!"

"Oy, we haven't gotten that far and you caught a cold ALREADY?"

"Shut up, Greed. Someone must be talking about me... By the way, is my ticket with you?" Greed waved both their train tickets in front of her face and when she made to grab it, he pulled it away in the nick of time; just for the fun of annoying her.

They continued the game for a while before Freesia got tired and fell asleep with her head on Greed's shoulder. He smiled at the sight and muttered to himself that she was a lot prettier when she's tame.

Back at the hospital, poor Rin suddenly had lots of bad omens happening to him. A black cat had just jumped into his lap, Marcus had accidentally plucked out more than one of his feathers, his shoelaces broke without him even going near it and he came down with an extremely high fever...

"Why do I get the feeling Freesia isn't where she's supposed to be...?" he moaned as he rolled over in his bed. Oh, he had no idea...

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I liked the ending part. :)

Oh yeah, I just thought up of a pretty nifty idea for the next chap so you'd better stay tuned! That is, if you don't want to miss Melody's encounter with Envy, ALONE, on the streets and Freesia going to Rush Valley after Dublith, where she meets the Elrics again!

Alright, I've said too much. Time to go and finish what I just spilled:)

Please R & R!


	12. Linking your paths?

The 8th Sin

-Crossroads-

Here we are the 12th chapter... one more step closer to the end. Are we prepared to part? No. Not yet.

To lightningstrxu : Where's chapter 12? I can't wait to read it! Hurry up and upload! X3

To tlpg : Chu:) I'm glad you're liking this story so far. Here's the beginning of the EnvyxOC everyone's been waiting for!

To Problematic: Girl, it doesn't matter if you don't review, I can tell if you're reading! (Although leaving a review would be sweet of you... Heheh…) Anyway, I can't wait for your latest chapter!

To sasuto: Thanks for all your support. This chapter wouldn't have been here if not for you and my other reviewers. :)

To everyone else: Thanks for reading this story! Don't worry, it doesn't end here. I have lots more to tell you. :) Stay tuned to the end for me? As I was saying...

There is still much to tell...

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_I sat in one corner of that room. If light ever touched that wretched chamber, I would never know. For as long as I could remember, I have been locked up down here, bound by chains as pain pulsed through me every time my heart beats. If only I could see that thing that woman placed on the floor to corner me... the very object that is weakening me..._

_Darkness has consumed me. I've forgotten how it felt to be under the rays of the sun. The deafening silence was the only thing that accompanied me. Why was I here in the first place, if my destiny was to only be unable to move, unable to live my own life? _

_I hear sounds outside. I recognized it as what that woman called 'rain'. A loud crack of what I knew was 'thunder' made me shudder. It was cold... so cold... Using what strength I had in me, I managed to curl myself into a ball, my heart beating faster in fear as I wept by myself._

_Then, somehow or rather, my surroundings changed. I was standing in a dimly-lit room with a woman standing across of me. She was smiling at me and something about her smile reminded me of the woman who locked me up for what I didn't know I did. She held one hand out for me to accept and there, in her palm, was a gemstone. As red as blood itself and only the size of a pebble, I recognized it as something that I needed. _

_I held it in my hand now, looking at the small stone. What did she call it? I couldn't remember. One thing's certain; I had the urge to eat it. Something flashed red as I brought the stone to my lips..._

"If you're going to sleep all day, I'm leaving you behind," an impatient voice called. Freesia's eyes snapped open as she sat up, not even noticing that Greed had already left his seat and was now waiting for her, leaning against the doorframe of the cabin.

"I was asleep?" she asked, dumbfounded. She didn't remember dozing off, which was a rare thing and stood up, noticing a bag above her head, "Is this ours?"

Greed looked at the weather-beaten traveler's bag, "We didn't bring anything except for some money. What the heck's wrong with you? Short-term memory loss kicking in? All I wanna do is get out of here once we're done with whatever it is that you wanna do."

She wasn't listening. She pulled the bag down from the compartment above her and placed it on the chair. It opened easily as the bag had no locks and inside were just some clothes that looked enough to last someone for a few weeks of traveling. Unfortunately, they were all men's clothes. There was also a small book under some of the neatly-folded clothes and a pair of dark sunglasses that were too big for her.

'Alright! Now I think I can get my adopted father to work some magic!' she thought to herself gleefully and closed the bag, taking it with her, "Let's go!"

Her sudden hyper ness caught Greed off-guard, "Where?"

"To my house, silly! Come on!" she cried, a broad smile on her face as she grabbed Greed's wrist in one hand and the bag in the other, jogging off towards the exit as the train was mostly empty now.

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Her memory of Dublith was still fresh in her mind, so it didn't take her long to locate her adopted parents' house. She knocked on the door, pausing to catch her breath and called out, "Mom! Dad! It's Freesia! I'm home!"

The door opened with that familiar annoying creak and her adopted mother came out of the house, hugging her adopted daughter.

"Alright mom, I need to breathe too, you know..."

"I thought you'd never write!" her mother suddenly said, giving the pale-faced girl a playful slap on the shoulder. She laughed nervously as she rubbed the spot where her mother had hit her; her mother may be scrawny, but she sure packs a punch...

Her mother noticed Greed behind her and asked, "Who's this, dear?"

She looked at him over her shoulder and scratched the back of her head, "Uh... Mom? Is dad home? I need to explain something to you two," she put the bag in the house and pulled both Greed and her mother into the house, making sure to close the door behind her.

"I don't know what to expect, but I'll try my best not to snap," her mother sighed and called for her father, where the sound of multiple books falling on their owner could be heard before the fairly tall and thin man came down the stairs with a forming bump on his head.

"Welcome home, honey," he said with a warm smile. When Freesia giggled at him, he chuckled and said, "A bit of an accident upstairs. My new books don't like me much."

Shortly after that, all of them were seated at the dining table and Freesia started explaining what had happened since day one. (In our case, it's chapter 1. :))

"Both of you can use alchemy, right? I bet you two have heard of homunculi, right?"

"Dear, you mentioned that in your two letters," her mother said blandly, "It's no surprise. We have to apologize for not telling you what you really were."

Freesia beamed. Her parents had known and yet they treated her like a human. They have mentioned that in their letter but hearing it out of their own mouths made her feel a lot better, "Okay, anyway. My friend here is also a homunculus. Mom, don't even think of getting the rolling pin. Just hear me out for a minute."

"Did he do anything to you? You did say that you two had to share the same room in Central, right?" Her father questioned, leaning over the table to look straight in her eyes.

"Never mind him sharing the same room as you! Why were you in the same room anyway?" her mother countered, also leaning over the table and Freesia was starting to feel a bit scared. She can't just tell her parents about the fight between her, Envy and her chimera father. Moreover, she couldn't tell her parents that she liked Greed!

Reason? She hasn't even introduced Greed to her parents and already they disapprove her traveling with him. Plus, her father's suspicious of what they've been doing and he being suspicious wasn't a good thing... She glanced sideways at Greed, mouthing 'Help me!' to him. But he merely smirked at her and shook his head.

'Damn you, Greed...' she thought to herself as her parents lectured her further.

They were done with her not too long after that and she was glad that was over. Her ears felt like they were on fire now and she'd finally got the 'OK' from her parents that it was alright for her to go around with Greed. They didn't look very happy, although they did agree on it...

Not too long after that, Greed had borrowed Freesia's room and not surprisingly, had fallen asleep there. Freesia took this as a chance for her plan to run. Picking up the suitcase she'd stolen, she approached her father, "Dad, can you help me with something?

"What is it? I'm kind of busy right now actually..."

"Please? It won't take long!" she pleaded, placing the suitcase on the table.

Her father eyed the bag, "Freesia... you didn't..."

"We'll talk about that like, NEVER. Please, dad? It's been there since Greed and I got on the train. No one else was in our compartment. Anyway, what I need you to help me with is..." she opened the bag up and pulled out a black coat from inside the bag that looked like it would fit Shou Tucker then placed it on the table, "I need you to teach me alchemy."

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John's search made him stop 'conveniently' in front of a flower shop. It was closed, but a woman was inside, watching him with venomous green eyes. Her platinum-blonde hair fell to her shoulders, her long bangs held back by a single purple hairpin in the shape of a thorn. He didn't know her as a person but he did know that she was the newest State Alchemist in town.

As if reading his mind, she opened the door and greeted him, "What brings you out here in such a rush, Winrain? Is something bothering you?" she asked with a natural slur in her tone, her lips curled up in a smile. John towered over her by half a head and refused to answer her.

She snapped her fingers in realization and held one hand out in a handshake, "Teresa De Lis, Venom Alchemist. I was just recruited a week ago," John shook her hand slowly, surprised by how cold her alabaster hand was under his touch, "Did you lose something?"

"...Just two people," John muttered bitterly, recalling what he should have been doing.

Teresa giggled, "Oh, do you mean two people dressed in mostly black?"

"You've seen them?" John asked, facing the woman. For a moment, he thought she looked like a porcelain doll when she looked at him with those mysterious emerald eyes. She merely looked away, still smiling and said,

"What's in it for me if I do tell you? The girl I saw in particular doesn't look all too human, if you know what I mean... That red mark on her shoulder tells it all..." John frowned at her. She didn't look like the kind of person who'd give away information for free.

The Storm Front Alchemist sighed, "Name your price."

Her smile grew broader, "Jonathan, I'm afraid you're not speaking my language... I don't take money from my seniors. At least, not usually."

Now he was growing impatient, "Teresa, if you're not going to help me, why don't you just say so?"

"Ah... such harsh words from a handsome man such as yourself. Alright then, I'll tell you what you need to know. The catch is; you stop getting involved with those homunculi," she said in a hushed tone, running a pale, doll-like finger up the side of John's face. He didn't like that gesture at all. In fact, she was being friendly. Too friendly for his liking. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand away from him and replied,

"Who are you to tell me to stop doing that?"

"Jonathan Winrain, I've tampered with many kinds of people before. I can give a wild guess on how homunculi should be tampered with and I assure you, you won't want to go in any deeper than you already have with them," her overly calm façade was unnerving, but that didn't stop John from carrying on with what he's doing. She wrenched her wrist from his grip and turned away from him, attending to some geraniums instead.

Taking out a pair of scissors, she cut the stalk of one with an expert flick of her finger, then (1)tossed the flower to him. She giggled at the expression on his face, "Do we have an agreement?" well, after being provoked; Jonathan wasn't really going to agree with her.

He allowed the flower to slip between his fingers and it fell to the floor, where he proceeded to step on it, "I'll find someone else to help me."

Teresa smirked as she cut off another geranium, "Just so you know, I'm the only one who knows where they're headed to."

John froze at the doorway, where he was in the process of leaving the flower shop. Smirking to himself and shrugging, he stepped back into the shop and closed the door behind him, "Alright, talk."

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Melody's eyes grew wide at the note John had left on the dining table in Rin's house. She just came back from the hospital and she was supposed to switch shifts with the thunder alchemist, until she saw the wretched note. She fell to her knees, heaving an exasperated sigh as Marcus gave her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder,

"Marcus, why must everything go wrong...? First, Rin 'kicked' us out of the ward after I mentioned Freesia and her friend being a cute couple and now, they're eloping! What more can go wrong?" she whined to no one in particular, though Marcus was clearly there with her. He read through the note and grunted something to her, to which she replied, "Oh, they're not eloping? Okay. If they are, Rin's definitely going to snap..."

She picked herself up off the floor and decided that they should stay in Rin's house in case John decided to call them up and when she checked the fridge and found it almost empty, she sighed, "Gluttons live in this house..." she muttered and picked up her flimsy blue blouse, which went very well with her sky blue sundress and called over her shoulder,

"Marcus, I'm going out to buy some food, alright? You stay here in case John comes back! Oh, and don't even think of touching anything in Rin's room!" with a squeak from her younger brother, she was off, her purse in hand.

She was on her way to the cake shop she went to the other day to grab some cakes (my, don't we have a sweet tooth?) for her and her sibling when someone wearing a traveling cloak and approaching her from the other direction surprised her.

It was Envy, the very homunculus who assaulted Rin in his home last night.

She turned around; being unable to perform the alchemy she was proud of without Marcus or animals in sight and decided to try and find another route to the cake shop, hoping the homunculus didn't see her. Unfortunately, her actions were just to stiff not to notice. Without her noticing, he was walking side-by-side with her, his hands behind his back and he was looking straight ahead with a smug expression plastered onto his face.

Melody squeaked when she finally noticed him and backed up against a wall, accidentally bumping her head on the wall in the process. Oh, what a time to be a klutz, Melody... Envy chuckled at her reaction, "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"

"You...! What do you want? As you can see, I'm armless and I don't have any back-up-"she was going to ramble on when Envy touched her lips to shut her up,

"Chill out, will you? Even homunculi need a day off," he said with a sudden good-natured air about him. He smiled at her and for a split second, he actually looked adorable.

Melody was dumbstruck at what he just said, "...What?"

She yelped in surprise when he pat her on the head, "Really, you're gonna die of stress one of these days. I mean, I'm not thinking of fighting you while you're armless. Unless of course, you've got thunder-boy and bird-brain here."

Now, she felt a bit hurt after what he referred to Rin as, "Rin's not a bird-brain! He's got a name you know!"

"Well then, how do you explain the wings?" Melody couldn't answer that. She fell silent. He had a point, actually... Envy laughed at the worried look on her face, "Ah... I see... You've got the hots for your feathered friend!"

Melody blushed at this, "No I don't! We-We're just close friends!"

"Tell that to your face; you look like a tomato."

She had to cover her face at this point and Envy was certainly enjoying this form of torturing the poor alchemist. He looked at her mumble to herself in embarrassment and then said, "If you like him so much, why don't you just tell it to him straight away? You'll be crying once he's got his eyes on someone else."

Melody looked away from the homunculus. As a matter of fact, Rin does have someone in his sights; Freesia. Envy noticed this, "Oh, so he does huh? Too bad."

"What do you know about him?" she cried out in anger. However, that anger vanished as soon as it appeared when Rin was suddenly standing next to her in Envy's place. As quick as a flash, he'd held her by the shoulders and planted a kiss on her lips. All at once, her mind went blank and she couldn't do anything to stop him until she found the strength to push the homunculus away from her.

"What are you doing!" she cried out, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Envy had reverted back to his original form and licked his lips gleefully.

"You didn't like it? I thought you always wanted him to do that. Besides, I thought it would cheer you up..."

"SHUT UP!" she cried out, ignoring the looks on people's faces around her as she stormed off. What Envy saw surprised him. She was crying when she left.

And for some reason, having Melody cry had hurt him somewhere deep inside...

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Author's note:

(1) – Geraniums symbolize folly and stupidity. Obviously, Teresa just called John an idiot.

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Awwhh… Envy cares! Isn't that cute? X3

Okay, I think I may as well make my chapters longer from this point on because…

-There will be three events happening at once for the next few chapters.

-I have a lot of things I need to type down to keep the audience reading.

-I just feel that the number of words doesn't have to be butchered as severely if I just extend the number! X3

Okay, that's all I've got for this chapter! Until chapter 13, you all!

P/S: To all my loyal readers, yes, there are two homunculusxOC pairings in here, including some other pairings coming that may not be important... And!

P/S2: I may be doing a crossover with another author's story as I have just borrowed his character and that the story calls for some parts of his story. Otherwise, Jonathan will remain an unexplained character. XD

Signing off for now,

Your friend,

TyrantFlame.


	13. The Scent of Betrayal

The 8th Sin

-The Scent of Betrayal-

Sorry for the late uploading. I had some problems connecting to the Net.

Okay people! There are guest star appearances coming all the way from another fanfiction titled "The Storm Front Alchemist" by lightningstrxu!

I had to do this because I'd borrowed Jonathan Winrain from the aforementioned author and you all may want to read his story. It's good. There will be some explanations, if I can cramp it all in as I don't write with a plan. I just make everything up as I go.

Also, there are some pretty interesting stuff coming up in the next few chapters. Stay tuned everyone!

Apology to lightningstrxu: about the geranium thing in the previous chapter... Sorry about that. T.T I'm REALLY sorry! I had to do that to make the scene more... 'Dynamic', if you like. : P Please forgive Teresa, too. I promise it won't be repeated.

Please read and review!

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_**-DUBLITH-**_

Greed woke up later in the early evenings with a splitting headache. It felt as if he was having a hangover, but he was pretty sure he hadn't been drinking. In fact, he was feeling rather... heavy? He could barely sit up without feeling the world revolve at a much higher speed than it actually was and he could have sworn he was seeing doubles of everything.

"Damn... This can't be happening..." he muttered to himself as he fell back down heavily onto the bed, the impact of the light fall making his head feel even worse than it already was. He never knew this could happen to a homunculus; or rather this shouldn't happen to a homunculus;

He was coming down with a fever.

A string of curses followed closely after that as he rolled over in bed in an attempt to ease the painful throbbing but to no avail. Someone opened the door and Greed only had to guess who it was. He got it right on the first guess.

"Greed, are you alright?" Freesia came over to him and sat down next to him on her bed, turning him over so he'd face her.

"I'm fine... Go away," he mumbled, gently pushing her away from him. She refused to budge. Reaching out, her cool fingers pressed against his warm forehead and it felt good. Of course, that feeling had to go and Freesia frowned at him,

"'I'm fine', huh? Well I'll be darned if your temperature doesn't reach at least 50 degrees Celsius! You look like you've been roasted over a spit," she said sternly and left the room in a hurry. Greed sighed, there she goes again... Being stubborn. Now she really reminded him of a homunculus; himself.

Freesia came back into the room not long after that with a handful of random items which included a small basin of water balanced atop her head, a few extra blankets under one arm, a first aid kit and a few bottles of medicine in the other, a small towel in between her lips and a slightly larger towel over one shoulder.

She managed to dump all the stuff without spilling or breaking anything and pulled out a thermometer from the first aid kit. Greed rolled his eyes skywards and was going to protest about having his temperature taken but before he could do so, Freesia stuck the object into his mouth anyway, rewarding her with an exasperated sigh from her patient.

"Get over it, Greed. Homunculus or no, it doesn't appear that once our antibodies are attacked, it would recover faster. In fact, I think our antibodies actually heal slower than normal humans do. You know equivalent exchange? Our physical wounds get healed at an impossible rate and our antibodies at a sluggish pace," Greed muttered something under his breath that Freesia didn't get to hear but she shrugged it off later and took the thermometer out of Greed's mouth a few minutes later.

One look at her face and the greedy homunculus knew what she was going to say. The frown and the shifting of her gaze from the thermometer to him made him roll over and cover his face with the pillow, "Looks like someone's gonna be bed-ridden for a few days," she said teasingly and yanked her sheets from under the heavier man with such force and speed that the man on her bed didn't even notice the disappearance of the piece of fabric.

She replaced the thin blanket with a thick duvet and placed another thin blanket on top. At this point, Greed managed to mumble through the sheets, "Do tell me you're not roasting me further. It feels like the oven in here."

Freesia laughed and squeezed out some excess water from the towel she held in her hands and placing the damp cloth on Greed's forehead. He shot her a quizzical look, wondering what the wet cloth would do to make him feel better. As a matter of fact, it made him feel uncomfortable. She smiled, "It's to help lower your temperature, if you're asking."

Her patient chuckled, "I _WAS_ going to ask you that."

"I see..." Freesia said absent-mindedly and groaned when her mother called her from downstairs. She stood up and pulled out a rib-length denim jacket from her closet, slipping it on easily and said, "Mom wants me to go out and grab some groceries for a minute. Think you can avoid leaving the bed while I'm gone?"

Greed shrugged, "Does it look like I'm capable of that?"

His companion smiled at him, "Anything's possible once you're a homunculus," she said with a lilt of glee. She touched the blanket on top of Greed and her hand melted into the fabric. A flash of light blinded the two temporarily and once it subsided, Greed was tied down with a very durable net which to his surprise, didn't allow much space for him to move. The best he could do was wriggle. And that was it. On Freesia's part, her hand had somehow removed itself from the blanket.

"Dad taught me how to use alchemy," she said with a happy smile on her face, marveling her work.

Greed shot her a look of shock, "How...?"

"I thought everyone could use alchemy."

"Not us homunculi, we can't."

"And who says so?"

"Heh, I'm surprised. If you've seen books on homunculi, you'll know why."

Silence hung between the two for a moment before Freesia let out a sigh, "Anyway, I do know that homunculi aren't able to use alchemy. We lack a soul, don't we? But for some reason, I can do all those things humans can. I try not to think too much about it and this is just how I've been living. I'm a really confused person right now, that much I can tell you. I just need someone who can give me answers right now..." she fell silent after that and looked at her companion with a smile, "Don't mind me, I don't think I'm making any sense right now. Anyway, I'll be back in a jiffy, so be a good boy and stay in bed, okay? Muah!" she had leant over, hugged the muscular homunculus the best she could and kissed him teasingly on the temple before bouncing off towards the living room.

She expected him to say something to her from the room, but surprisingly, he didn't. Oh well, it's not everyday that you get to see Greed keep quiet. Inside the bedroom, Greed looked at the closed door with a distant look on his face and smiled to himself, feeling a bit warm and fuzzy inside before he slowly nodded off again.

While Freesia was out, she was surprised at how much grocery she needed to shop for and before long wasn't able to see whatever was in front of her due to the large bags of food her mother had asked her to buy. Not surprisingly, she fell over, knocked over by something small. She sat up with a start, kind of afraid that it might have been a chimera or something but was surprised to see a little boy with long, dark hair and an odd taste in fashion sitting right across of her, clutching his forehead and the back of his head simultaneously.

"Oww... Hey, are you alright?" she asked, picking up some nearby stuff that she could reach. A familiar feeling swept past her for a split second when the boy looked at her. They had the same violet eyes, "Look, you bumped into me first, so I'm expecting an apology from you."

The boy didn't look like he was listening. Instead, he looked around behind her and pouted when the mouse he was chasing had scurried out of sight, "You made my mouse run away!" he cried angrily, pointing an accusing finger at her.

Freesia blinked a couple of times at this, "Excuse me? **_I_** made your mouse run away? Who was the one who bowled me over then?" she shot back, earning a moment of silence from the little boy in front of her.

Finally, he spluttered out, "I don't care! You made my mouse run away!" people were crowding around them now, and Freesia didn't like that one bit. In quick succession, she picked up all the bags with one arm and dragged her little problem along with her by the ear, towards her house. They both stopped in front of the door, where the little imp had slapped her hand painfully to dislodge her powerful fingers from his little ear.

"Ow! What's your problem, kid? You bump into me, spoil some of my food and then accuse me of letting your pet mouse loose! Why are you chasing a mouse, anyway?" she cried in a near-hysterical tone. This was just too darned annoying. The little boy she'd dragged all the way here looked up at her angrily, but tears were forming in those large purple orbs. Oh, no... Oh, dear God no...

But it did happen. He started crying and scared the daylights out of Freesia. She quickly bent over and picked the boy up, hugging him and shushing him the best she could, as if she were handling a toddler. This went on for some time until Freesia felt that it would be safer if she took him inside. She turned the door knob once and...

Found out it was locked. Oh, right... both her parents must be out again... And Greed's upstairs, immobilized. What a day...

"Hey kid, you hungry?" she asked, fishing a packet of biscuits from one of her shopping bags. The boy, who had now quieted down made a grab for the bag, but Freesia swiftly slapped his hand away, making it retreat as if it were on fire, back to its owner, "The least you could do was say you're hungry. Where's your mother, anyway?"

He shrugged, 'Oh, trying to be difficult, huh? Smart-ass...' Freesia thought to herself and opened the bag, popping a bite-sized biscuit into her mouth, "It doesn't sound nice for me to just call you 'kid' all day. You have a name?" she asked, now feeling nice enough to offer the kid some biscuits.

The boy cautiously took a few into his small hands, which Freesia noticed that one of his arms and legs were slightly larger than the other and that they were more tanned than himself. He munched on one of them before saying, "They call me Wrath."

Freesia froze. The bag of cookies threatened to fall out of her grip.

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_**-CENTRAL-**_

Teresa looked at John leave. She wasn't very sure if what she just told him was going to make him drop out of the homunculus business, but she was very sure he was going to do something dangerous. Knowing him, he'd pull off something alright... If what he said about the chimera Shou Tucker had made with his blood was true, then she had a lot to do in order to keep herself safe. A little girl stepped out of the back room and frowned at her,

"You talk too much."

Teresa smiled, "Wasn't I supposed to? You Auntie Lust did mention that I should shake him off those two. She also told me that way, it would make it easier for you to get to him. Isn't that what you want, Mia? Or should I call you Betrayal?" the lady asked with a giggle, ruffling the girl's hair slightly and causing the girl to frown at the elder woman.

She slapped the alchemist's hand off of her head harshly and said, "Whoever said you could touch me or call me by that name? Don't forget that I can just kill you right here, right now."

The Venom Alchemist rubbed her arm where the homunculus had slapped her and smiled weakly, "Yes, I know. I'm sorry."

"My, my, I can't leave you alone with her, can I Teresa?" asked a smooth voice from the doorway of the flower shop. Lust stepped into the room with Gluttony tagging along close behind her and Teresa frowned. Lust, she could talk to but Gluttony just wouldn't listen to her when she asked him not to wolf down her precious flowers.

"I did as I was told. His reactions are as usual, unpredictable. Even through my years of mediating, I just can't put a finger at what he plans to do. Before you ask, he didn't mention any places. In this case, I suggest planting a mole to keep an eye on him."

Lust tapped her chin thoughtfully, "Alright then. What say you do it then? Betrayal can go with you."

"What! I don't wanna go with her! She's no fun!" Betrayal cried, on the verge of throwing a tantrum.

Before things went any worse, Teresa cut in, "I think it's best if you find someone else. I need a break."

"Are you saying that you refuse to work with us?" Lust asked, her voice full of malice.

Teresa smiled slyly and shook her head, "Why would I? Without you people, I'd die of boredom... Besides, I'm wondering how I can live like a homunculus without having to go through death first."

Lust eyed the alchemist skeptically, "You're seeking eternal life, you mean?"

The florist nodded, "All in a life's work. My father left my mother, mother died after getting to close to the truth and my two brothers died during their research."

"Ever tried human transmutation?"

Teresa laughed, "I wouldn't dream of doing that. I'm better off alone, without any relatives. So, if you need me, you know where to find me. I'm closing the shop down for the day," she said mildly, packing up her things and leaving through the door, not forgetting to pat Gluttony on the head for not eating her flowers. (That's a first! O.o)

"Auntie Lust, I hate her," Betrayal said sharply, crossing her small arms over her chest.

Lust merely smiled, "She's still of use to us, Betrayal. We can't just let her slip away now..."

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_**-CENTRAL, RIN'S RESIDENCE-**_

Jonathan stepped into the house and was greeted with the sight of Marcus munching on a toothpick for no apparent reason and staring off into space while the nearby bathroom sounded as if the water tap was broken. The water was coming out in torrents and he was going to go turn the tap off when he heard someone muttering nonsense from inside the small room.

"Your sister in there?" he asked the little chimera, who just nodded absent-mindedly and scribbled something down on a nearby piece of paper. He held it up for John to read and the alchemist merely used his automail eye to zoom in the writing so he could see it.

"She's been in there for an hour or so," Melody's younger sibling sighed and put the paper down when John was done and at that point, John asked again,

"Did you try dragging her out?"

"Tried. The door wouldn't budge. Why don't you try?" came the scribbled reply.

John scratched the back of his head and turned around to face the door. Holding one hand out, he knocked on it and he was answered with a half-shriek, "For the last time, Marcus, GO AWAY!"

Marcus squeaked something loudly from behind the alchemist and the door swung open to reveal Melody with a very red pair of eyes and looking as if she just went through a tornado, "Oh, it's you. Sorry Marcus. What is it? Did you find them?"

The raven-haired alchemist raised an eyebrow at her, "What happened to you?"

"That's not important. Did you find them?" Melody snapped, dabbing her eyes once more with her handkerchief.

John nodded, "A source told me they were headed to Dublith. You're going to check it out?"

Melody shrugged, "Not sure. What about you? Since you know where they are, why don't you go instead?"

"That's easy. I'm not going to get on with this little investigation. I mean, those two didn't have anything to do with me so why should I care? I've got other better things to do than chase two troublemakers all around the globe. Since you know now, why don't you go tell Rin about it? I bet he'd do something."

"John, wait! Why are you suddenly changing your mind about this? Weren't you going to help us?"

"As I said, I have better things to do. I've got other problems myself, alright? If you've been reading the papers, you'd probably understand, if you know which article to read," with that said John left the house and disappeared as he hailed a cab.

Melody looked on worriedly. Things weren't going very smoothly and having that knowledge; she picked Marcus up off the couch by the arm and went to go back to the hospital to inform Rin.

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Rin took the news quite well, especially about the part where John decided to drop out of the homunculus business. In fact, he looked rather glad that John decided to quit. However, though Rin knows of their whereabouts now, he was still in no shape to be going out 'adventuring'. It would take him around a week or two to recover completely, and he doubted the two homunculi to stay put.

Melody was wondering why he was so intent on getting the two back and the blush on Rin's face nearly told it all, "I don't care what happens to that other homunculus. I just want Freesia to be safe, that's all..."

"But she's in her hometown now. No need to worry about her, right?"

The winged man looked at her quizzically, "...Melody, why do you dislike her so much?"

This made the red-headed alchemist snap, "Why? Maybe it's because she took away the only man I'd ever love!"

Rin froze for a minute, "Melody..."

"Rin, just tell me this; who do you like better, a living human being like me who'd love you with my very soul and would readily throw away what remaining life I have to save yours, or would you rather a soulless being like her? She doesn't love you like I do, Rin!"

Her companion looked at her sympathetically now and looked straight ahead at the white ceiling above him. A low chuckle escaped the back of Melody's throat as she shook her head slowly, "I should have known... You'd prefer her, wouldn't you? That sure cleared up my doubts..." she then turned around and strode to the door. Rin turned his head to look at her and called,

"Melody, I'm sorry."

She looked at him over her shoulder one last time, giving him the warmest smile she could muster, one last time; to the man she'd fallen for and ended up getting dumped for loving, "There's no need. The damage has been done."

Rin looked at her guiltily and she continued, opening the door, "I'll grant you your last request though. I'll try my best to retrieve the two homunculi. Expect me in about a few weeks' time," she said firmly and motioned Marcus to come with her before the winged alchemist was now left alone in his silent ward.

Once outside, Melody sighed. She threw her head back and looked up at the vermillion sky, which was steadily growing darker and closed her eyes as a breeze blew past her. She was sorely disappointed by Rin's decision, but there was no way she would be able to change it. Then, her mind drifted off to her job. The next train to Dublith was in a few hours' time, if her memory served her well enough in memorizing the train schedules.

She opened her eyes and nearly shrieked at the cocky, smiling face which hovered just a few inches away from her own, emerald green against pinkish-violet, "Nice to see you out in the open again so soon, hun."

"Envy!" she cried, moving away from the homunculus with a start and hugging Marcus close to her chest like a make-do shield.

He chuckled at her response and said, "It's even nicer to know that you actually remember my name. So, where are you headed to?"

"Why the heck are you still doing around here?"

"Didn't I tell you I'm having the whole day off?"

Crickets chirped.

Melody put Marcus down and thought for a moment. Did he really? Her mind was so cluttered now; she couldn't even remember what she had for lunch just a few hours back. Now Envy wasn't a very patient homunculus, and her zoning out as if he wasn't even there was boring him. So he decided to snap her out of her little trance. Just took one step towards her, bent down a bit, leaned in to close the gap and Melody's mind went blank in an instant. She pushed him away a second time and found herself saying,

"Quit doing that, will you! My lips are not where you can practice puckering up, Romeo!"

Envy merely looked amused, "That's funny, you're not acting as hysterical as you did a few hours back. Could it be..." he leant in to whisper in her ear, "That you're finally falling for me?"

Melody's face turned red. She herself wasn't sure if it was out of embarrassment or out of anger, but one thing was certain; her patience was wearing VERY thin... She left Envy with multiple injuries (Which were considered major on a human being and minor on a homunculus...) and stormed off towards her home to pack some clothes for her trip to Dublith.

A few hours later, she was seated in the train to Dublith and inside the compartment she was in was a dark-haired man with weather-beaten clothes donning a wide-brimmed hat. The man was staring out the window and Melody followed his gaze, "It looks like we'll be arriving there early morning tomorrow, huh?" she asked, trying to be friendly.

The man nodded, leaning back in his seat and resting his eyes. Melody took out an alchemy book from her bag not long after that and asked without looking up at her companion, "So, where are you from?" she could have sworn there was a sizzling sound nearby and a very familiar voice made her jump almost ten feet in the air,

"Anywhere you're from, I suppose," said a familiar silky voice and Melody shrieked at the sight of the homunculus sitting across of her.

This was going to be a long trip...

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Yay! It's done:) I hope you like this chapter. I'm dedicating the Melody/Envy interaction to tlpg.

And about the antibodies thingie? I just made that up. :P Please don't scream at me... Anyway, I have chapter 14 to type. It will be up slightly later because my exam's coming not long from now. It starts on the 27th of May.

I won't be uploading very quickly around 27th of May till 8th of June, so don't be surprised if I don't upload at all.

I just hope you all enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed typing it. :)

Please read and review!


	14. Path from the past

The 8th Sin

-Music Box-

Wow... It's chapter 14 already! Amazing, huh? It never fails to surprise me whenever you type a new chapter and go, "Wow, I've written so much already?"

Anyway, here's chapter 14. I haven't got much to say except that people should read stories by lightningstrxu, Problematic (now changed to Pretentious Frog, or was it Pretentious Toad?), Domenic and my other favorite authors. They are absolutely fabulous.

Let's get on with the story!

Please Read and Review!

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_**-CENTRAL, WINRAIN RESIDENCE-**_

John flopped onto his bed upon reaching his room, without even bothering to change into his house wear and stared off into space, sighing. Teresa, the mysterious alchemist that he just met earlier that day, mentioned a lot of things that should have only been known by him. How did she get to know so much about him in the first place? Reaching into his shirt, he pulled out a locket and further opened the ornament to reveal a picture of a younger version of him and a little girl.

"Mia..." he muttered to himself, tracing the picture gently with his fingers, almost hoping she would jump out of the picture and be alive again. Sighing again, he closed the locket and tucked it back safely into his shirt.

He then recollected the day's events and wondered if he was doing the right thing. Well, its was kind of odd to know that Teresa actually knew that he was looking for Greed and Freesia in the first place and it was even more surprising that she knew who they were at first glance. On second thought... it was quite reasonable. Those two could stick out of a crowd like an elephant behind a blade of grass...

The Storm Front Alchemist decided to leave that matter for another day. After all, his other issues were bound to find him anytime soon and he was very well prepared to tackle whatever comes his way.

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_**-TRAIN TO DUBLITH-**_

Melody was half-hysterical, holding a particularly heavy-looking umbrella that she'd pack for a scorching day (which was to be expected, considering her destination...) and was looking at Envy, who was crouching on the floor, holding his aching head.

"Ow... Hey, I may be a homunculus, but that hurt!" he cried, standing up and plopping back into his seat with a pout. Marcus found this funny and started to laugh.

"Marcus, he is not at all funny!" Melody said, glaring at her younger sibling, who to her dismay, waddled over to play with Envy, "Traitor..." she growled and put her 'weapon' away. Marcus, who had been fiddling around with his sister's chess set ever since they boarded the train finally arranged all the pieces and invited Envy to a game.

The homunculus had no idea how to play the darned game and somehow or rather, Marcus talked Melody into teaching Envy how and she wasn't at all pleased with the idea. The only thing that propelled her to really teach the green-haired man was her little brother threatening to rip her books in that goblin-like language he speaks in (which surprisingly, only Melody could understand) and the innocent little white puppy that blinked its adorably large, black eyes at her and swishing it's cute little bushy tail behind it. The most annoying thing about this creature was; it was Envy...

Melody gave up, "Oh, alright... But once I'm done teaching, you two had better leave me alone to do my studies!"

Marcus whined something to her and Envy shot her a confused look (he's back to normal now), "He said my next recertification exam's in three years' time."

Envy huffed, "That's three years. For now, why don't you just let out some tension and just relax before you reach Dublith? We've got a long journey ahead of us," he said with a smile, knocking a white queen over on the chess board. Melody looked at him and sighed, setting her books aside and sat down near Marcus, picking up the fallen white queen and setting it back in position on the checkered board.

"As you know, this is the queen. It can move in just about any direction but it can't move in an L-shape. This one's the king..." she continued to explain, Marcus chiming in once in a while (and Melody translating...) and before they knew it, Envy was playing effortlessly with the little chimera.

Of course, no matter how quickly one learns to play something...

"Checkmate."

"What! How'd your queen get there?" Envy cried out in frustration, pointing an accusing finger at Melody.

...Experience still rules over the fluency of play...

Tiredness washed over them quickly and before long, Marcus was curled up in a blanket on one of the empty seats and Melody just realized that it was 11 o' clock. The compartment was dark, and since she didn't want to wake Marcus up, she just continued reading with a small, fragrant lantern as a night-light. Envy was wide awake and was tracing odd patterns on the windowpanes with a look of pure boredom on his face. When he couldn't stand it anymore, he picked up one of Melody's books and flipped through a few pages, giving up a while later.

"What's the matter?" Melody asked as she looked at the homunculus whose boredom was enough to propel him to tear his hair out. Obviously, he wasn't one to sit still for more than a few minutes.

"How can you stand doing this all day? Sitting somewhere, reading things I can't even understand!"

Melody smiled, "It's something only alchemists can understand."

"...Then why did you become an alchemist in the first place?" he asked, bringing his legs up so he'd be sitting cross-legged in his seat, "Just so you could understand what others cannot?"

"Not exactly..." Melody said calmly, flipping to another page, "I didn't exactly WANT to become an alchemist. At first, I only did it to help make my father's burden lighter. You see, he was an alchemist. Always trying to look for ways on how to make human life better. Since humans, by their very nature are powerless without a weapon, he proposed to people becoming part-human, part-animal."

"A chimera," Envy added boredly.

"Thank you, Envy," his companion said with a bit of annoyance in her tone. He just smiled meekly at her, "Anyway, he never succeeded in creating one that had human thinking but the survival instinct of an animal. He kept on trying and trying until one day, I tried creating one via human alchemization. Well... I don't think I need to tell you what happened after that..." she said slowly, closing her book and leaning back, looking up at the ceiling of her compartment.

Envy, who was just beginning to get interested in her story waited for a bit before saying, "Come on, tell me. I want to know."

Melody smiled, "Do you really?"

The homunculus merely nodded innocently like a child, "Okay... anyway, I did the transmutation with two reasons; one was to help my father with his research and two, I wanted to save Marcus. Back then, he was suffering from a disease that can only be saved with a medicine made from a certain animal's blood. I used Marcus in that experiment, along with the animal whose blood was supposed to save him, or at least, the composition of the animal that was supposed to save him..."

She paused for a while and Envy waited patiently, his eyes never leaving the red-head's face. Taking a deep breath, she continued, "The alchemization backfired half-way. My father, who thankfully was there at that time managed to somehow counter-alchemize it so he would take the impact instead. I was unharmed, but my father lost most of his body parts."

"What did he lose?"

Melody bit her lower lip at the recollection. Why was she so willing to tell Envy the one thing she never wanted to remember? "The whole of his left arm, half his right arm and the rest of his body from the waist down... Of course, he passed away not long after that..."

Envy fell silent for a moment, "And what happened to Marcus then?"

"...The alchemization wasn't completed...He was barely alive, but I managed to finish the alchemization. Unfortunately, I also lost a few things..." she said with a sad smile, "I lost my lungs, my intestines and a kidney. It's not so bad when you think about it," she said as cheerfully as she could while Envy shook his head,

"You humans are crazy... You'd lose all that to save your sibling and still call it nothing. Sometimes, I can't understand you. Doing all those irrational things that are meaningless in the end, only to have the same problem arise one way or another and doing the same meaningless things over and over again," he said in an almost abstractly tone that made Melody giggle.

"You're missing an awfully important point there, you know?"

Envy just looked at her quizzically. Melody laughed. From the first time they met in Rin's room, she had never thought the homunculus sitting in front of her would end up being so nice to her after what happened to the winged alchemist. To add to the list, she never thought she'd live to find herself thinking that Envy was rather cute sometimes.

"Homunculi were once humans too," she said simply, making Envy roll his eyes skywards,

"How could I forget?" he muttered miserably, the look on his face making Melody burst into giggles again, "What's so funny?"

Melody shook her head, trying her best to stifle her laughter before she ended up waking everyone up and succeeded. She proceeded to yawn a few minutes later and said, "Oh boy, I'm getting sleepy. Aren't you the least tired?"

Her companion shrugged, "I don't really sleep. I don't find any significance in it."

She smiled, "Well, I suppose you should after all, I think I'd feel much safer if you sleep before I do," Envy shot her a dirty look, "I was just kidding! Well, anyway, I can't sleep unless you do first."

"As I said, I don't sleep."

"Then, would a lullaby help?" she said hopefully, pulling a blanket around her body to keep warm. Envy shrugged,

"Worth a try I guess," he said droopily, feeling a bit mentally drained after the many chess matches earlier on as he lay down on his side in his empty seat.

Melody smiled and gently sang,

_(1)Close your eyes, tell me what did you see..._

_The night has come, the moon is out, can you hear the gentle breeze blowing through your window?_

_They hum a song, a lullaby, make you dream, don't open your eyes or they'll go away._

_Don't be afraid of the dark, they're there to clear your mind,_

_Somewhere within you, I'm sure you'll find a light._

_Heavenly bliss, or known as your dreams,_

_They hold you close, remember their embrace,_

_For one whole night, your mind drifts away,_

_When morning comes, the dream will just shy away..._

_Don't say goodbye yet, it's not the end,_

_They will find their way back to you, eventually..._

Melody trailed off to a hum at that point and smiled at the sight of the sleeping homunculus across of her. He looked so peaceful, curled up in what he would consider a comfortable position. Melody stood up and gently draped the warm blanket she had been using over Envy's body. His thin clothing gave her the impression that he was going to get pneumonia should she not give him the blanket. She brushed away a loose strand of hair from his face and bent down, giving him a peck on the cheek. Feeling satisfied, she went over to her seat and pulled out a long coat she didn't know she packed and slipped it on before she sat back down with a relieved sigh and closed her eyes, humming the lullaby to herself...

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_**-DUBLITH, THE FOLLOWING MORNING-**_

****Freesia yawned and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and attempted to stand up, but something was clinging to her waist. Looking down, she sighed. It wasn't her idea, but Wrath wasn't really intent on leaving her side, claiming that she was fun to be with and that she was weird. The night before, he actually climbed into her room through the window! No wonder it was kind of cold...

"Hey," called a voice. She looked up at her bed and saw Greed looking down at her, free of his binds. He was looking healthier than he did the day before, but he looked... jealous? At the little boy next to her.

Freesia smiled and waved at him, "Good morning, Greed," she said pleasantly, combing her long hair back with her fingers. He didn't reply. He still didn't look very happy.

"Who the heck is this?" he asked, motioning to the little fur ball that clung to her.

Freesia paused for a moment, opening and closing her mouth like a fish, trying to find some sort of explanation that wouldn't land her in any more trouble. Whatever came out of her mouth always had the tendency to land her somewhere bad.

"Well, uh... this boy's name's Wrath. Not really sure where he's from but..."

"Let's get rid of him..." Greed cut in, activating the Shield half way up his right forearm and ready to shred the still sleeping boy next to Freesia.

"Please, wait! He doesn't know he's a homunculus..." she said in a hushed tone as Greed made to claw at the boy.

He looked at her quizzically and put his hand down, "Freesia, how long have you known this kid?"

Freesia mentally counted, "Less than nine hours?"

"Okay, we're getting rid of him."

"Greed!"

"Whether he knows he's a homunculus or not, it's too risky, alright! We don't know if he's with anyone dangerous, we don't know what he's capable of doing and bottom line; we don't know him. I like gambling and for this case, my instincts tell me I'm on the losing side," he growled, crossing his arms over his chest.

Freesia fell silent. He had some pretty darned good points there. But, she wasn't so cruel as to just ditch the poor boy just like that, "You said we don't know him, right? Well then, what if he isn't what you think he is?"

Greed let out an exasperated sigh, "Have your parents never told you a thing about keeping other people in the house? It's because we don't know them that whether they're good or bad we keep them out. Unless you know him like the back of your hand, then that's a different story."

"Then was it a mistake for me to follow you in the first place?" she said, anger faintly visible on her usually cheerful face. Somehow, the look on her face reminded Greed very much of Lust.

The two had a bit of a staring competition before Greed gave up. She was just too stubborn for her own good, "Alright, you win. But I won't be responsible should something happen," with that said, he stood up, a bit too quickly that it made him wobble a bit, regained his composure and went out to the living room, where it was cooler. (Hey, being stuck under a stack of blankets that just plain roasts you and having to cut through them to get free wasn't very much fun.)

_**-LIVING ROOM-**_

"My, my. Are you sure you should be up and about at this hour? Is Freesia up already?" he turned towards the source of the voice and saw Freesia's mother in the kitchen, cooking. How did she know?

"Yeah, she's up. And I'm feeling just fine, if that's what you're referring to," he said lazily, though what he was feeling wasn't really what he just said. He was still feeling light-headed and any sudden movement of his head was bound to make the world spin at an incredible speed.

The elderly woman giggled and turned the fire of the stove off, "Your footsteps are irregular. Sit down and I'll get you some soup," Humans... how they know all these things, he just had no idea... He complied though; he wasn't in a good enough shape to be moving about. He rested his forehead in his hands and closed his eyes, feeling a bit tired again. At the same time, he didn't really agree to come back to Dublith because here, there were only things that he didn't want to remember. Things that made him feel human.

He opened his eyes at the sound of a bowl being set in front of him, "Eat up, you'll feel at least a little bit better," Freesia's mother said kindly before she resumed making breakfast for the other residents in the house. Picking up his spoon, Greed started to eat and flinched slightly when he placed the spoonful of soup in his mouth. It was **_HOT. _**When did the boiling point of soup get so high?

"Careful, it's piping hot."

Great, NOW she tells him... "I kind of noticed that."

"Oh?"

"Your warning came a few seconds too late," Greed grumbled, not liking the burning sensation on his tongue one bit.

The elderly woman giggled, "I'm sorry, I guess I should have warned you when I gave the bowl to you."

Freesia's father came down the stairs, bringing a heavy-looking suitcase along with him, "Honey, have you seen my..."

"You packed them upstairs last night by your bed-side shelf, Llednar."

"Oh, right... Hm? You're alright already? Freesia said you should stay in bed," he said, looking at the unwell homunculus.

"I had enough of the bed..." he said tiredly, propping his elbow up on the table, resting his chin on his palm and stirring his soup absent-mindedly.

"Well, here's a piece of advice for you; homunculus or no, it's better if you rest up when you're unwell, whether you like it or not. Oh, and Alice, honey, can you tell Freesia to pack her things? We're going in two days' time," with that said, Llednar rushed back upstairs to grab whatever it was that he forgot.

Alice sighed, "That man... We're going to Rush Valley in two days and he's acting as if were going in a few minutes!"

Greed, who couldn't help intervening, asked, "What's so interesting about Rush Valley?"

"My husband Llednar wants to visit an old friend of his in Rush Valley. They promised to meet there, see? I was wondering why we can't just go visit him in Aquoya directly," Alice complained, wiping her hands on her apron and sighing. As she raised her hands again, she accidentally knocked a few plates over. Muttering a few curses under her breath, she bent over, piled the pieces together and pulled out a piece of chalk from her pocket. She drew an alchemic circle around it and placed her hand on it. A gentle blue light covered the ceramic shards and when it subsided, the plates were back to normal.

"I just hate it when that happens... This makes it the fifth time this week," she mumbled to herself and put the delicate things into a cabinet before clearing the kitchen counter.

Once that was done, she walked over to the stairs and called, "Freesia, breakfast's ready! Come on down or I'll feed it to the birds!"

"Coming mom!" came the slightly muffled reply. Greed was guessing that her door was closed.

She came down minutes later, wearing a figure-hugging sleeveless black shirt and a pair of matching pants that looked a bit similar to Greed's and her long dark hair tied back in two high bunches. She was looking adorable, as usual. (Author:P)

The minute she came down, Wrath tagged along and both Alice and Greed could see that Freesia was cursing under her breath. She laughed nervously at her mother and said, "Morning mom... Slept well?"

Alice was tapping her foot impatiently, both arms crossed over her chest and motioning towards Wrath as if waiting for an explanation.

"Well... uh... He doesn't have a home, so..."

Alice sighed, "Freesia, I know you feel pity for the homeless, but we don't have that much food to feed so many mouths either. I'm afraid he'll just have to go back where you found him."

"But mom! He was on the streets when I first met him!"

"Well, surely he came from somewhere. People don't just fall from the sky, you know."

"But..."

"Freesia, people aren't pets."

"I know that, but you won't even let me keep a cat!"

"I'm allergic to fur, now if you'll stop talking back to me," her mother said sternly, frowning at the homunculus. Freesia hung her head in defeat, mumbling a, "Sorry, mom" and looked at her feet.

Alice looked at Wrath and said, "Your friend there can stay for breakfast before he leaves," she said softly, smiling and ruffling Wrath's hair before going back to the kitchen to fix something for the little boy.

Upon reaching the dining table, Greed and Wrath engaged in a glaring competition. For some unknown reason, they just hate each other... Freesia was too pre-occupied looking at some birds outside that she didn't notice the little competition going on next to her.

A few hours passed after that and Freesia decided that she wanted to go out and take a walk. Wrath was the first to grab her hand and say he wanted to join in and she agreed. However, the third person who came along wasn't exactly supposed to come with them.

"Greed, you're not well enough. You need some more rest! Besides, it's scorching outside."

"I need to take a walk myself. I hate being cooped up in one place too long, just so you know. I'm going, whether you like it or not."

Freesia sighed, "Alright, whatever grabs you, I suppose... But I won't be responsible should you collapse somewhere, alright?" she turned around and walked on ahead but stopped with a jerk when something pulled at her hair.

"Greed, that hurt! What did I do to deserve that?" she cried, rubbing her head where the pain was most intense.

He shrugged casually, "Just felt like doing it. Anyways, I feel like visiting an old place. Wanna join me?" he asked. He didn't wait for a reply though. He just walked on ahead. Freesia, being the curious being she was, decided to follow.

She thought the route was familiar and understood what Greed meant when they reached a very familiar building. It was the entrance to the Devil's Nest. Surprisingly, the area was still accessible and before long, Greed had disappeared into the ruined place.

"Greed, come back out here before someone sees you!" Freesia cried in a hushed tone, afraid of what people might think of his actions, but his footsteps steadily became more distant as he continued to explore the interior. Freesia grumbled and followed suit shortly after that, coughing a bit as a bit of dust flew about when she accidentally bumped into a wall.

"Greed? Are you still there?" she asked when her coughing ceased. He replied with a hum and before long, his footsteps started sounding distant again.

Wrath looked up at her, "This place creeps me out."

"I know. I was even more creeped out the first time I came in here."

"Why don't we just get out of here? It doesn't matter if he gets lost down here, I hate this place," he declared and made to exit the building but turned back when Freesia didn't follow, "Didn't you hear me?" he asked, looking at the female homunculus quizzically.

She looked at the small boy, "Sorry Wrath, I can't leave him behind," she said with a smile and a bit of a blush on her cheeks. Wrath didn't understand, "Well... let's just put it this way; he's annoying when you get to know him but when he's gone, you'll miss him a lot. I for one don't want to feel that way. You go on ahead, I'm gonna go catch up with Greed," with that said, she went off in pursuit of Greed, leaving Wrath all alone near the entrance of the former bar.

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_**-DEVIL'S NEST RUINS, UNDERGROUND-**_

Freesia found herself in the sewers and looked around. It was dimly lit down there, but bright enough for her to see where she was going. Now she was really creeped out. She never was good in dark places, and she didn't like this place one bit, "Greed, where are you?" she asked to no one in particular as she was alone down there.

Footsteps approached her. Turning around, thinking it was Greed, she squinted in the dim light to see if it was the person she was seeking. Unfortunately, it wasn't. The gleam of a well-worn blade by the person's side was enough to tell Freesia that wasn't Greed. The small figure donned a cloak about it and the hood made it impossible for Freesia to tell if it was a man or a woman.

"Leave..." the person growled. Now, she was sure that her 'companion' was a man. As she made no move, he held his sword at ready and lunged towards her, where Freesia instinctively back-flipped and completely avoided her assailant's attack.

However, the speed of her opponent wasn't to belittle. Once she touched the ground, the nimble man was already in front of her, sword raised above his head. She tripped over something behind her foot and fell, thankfully, in Greed's arms, who just came from the opposite direction and was attracted to all the commotion. As she fell, she swung her other leg up and managed only to kick the man's hood back.

Greed stared wide-eyed at the cloaked swordsman. The deep blue eyes, the partially exposed white gi, it was impossible not to remember...

"Dorchette...!"

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(1) I modified the lyrics to a song I heard from Gundam SEED Destiny. It's in the episode where Stellar dies and I like the song a lot. It's sad and slow, so I decided that it would sound nice as a lullaby. :) You can try singing it to see if it sounds alright. :P

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Hahaha! How do you like that! The puppy survived! Well, in the manga, they didn't exactly show if Roa and Dorchette really died, right? I didn't exactly see any decapitation either, so don't be surprised if you see more manga or anime or even another fanfiction character's 'Guest Star' appearance.

I'm stopping this chapter where it is because I purposely wanted to leave a cliffhanger. :) Note to everyone; Am currently not sure if I should make Roa appear too. I like Dorchette because a few fanfiction authors make him so cute and hilarious, so I decided that he should make an appearance here. Plus, I was kind of stumped here, so I decided that Dorchette has a thing or two to tell.

So! Should I or should I not include Roa? Your choice. If I don't get anything, then it's all up to me. :)

Enjoy the chapter, this one doesn't have much progress, but let's just lay back for now, shall we? I won't want to rush head-on to all the excitement we'll bump into in the later chapters...

P/S: Lightningstrxu, any ideas where you want Grendel and Betrayal to be explained more? After all, you are their owner. :P

Please R & R!


	15. Messed Up

The 8th Sin

-The way of the chimera-

I think I'm jinxed.

(Readers: Why?)

The day after I uploaded chapter 14, well... you guys remember what happened to Greed, right?

(Readers: Yeah, he got sick. What about it?)

I came down with a fever the very next day, after I uploaded it... T.T

(Readers laugh out loud)

You guys are mean... T.T Anyway, here's chapter 15! I've decided to do this in secret, without mum knowing, but uploading the next chapter is going to be hell, so you guys ought to be patient...

Please R&R!

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_**-DEVIL'S NEST RUINS, UNDERGROUND-**_

The small man froze at the sight of the homunculus, "G-Greed...?"

"You're alive!" the two said simultaneously, pointing at one another in disbelief.

Freesia eyed Dorchette carefully and said, "Hey, weren't you that guy..."

"Whom you stabbed? Yeah. They still hurt, you know," the dog chimera grumbled, gently patting his left shoulder where she'd wounded him.

"Sorry... I was just trying to defend myself," she said apologetically.

Dorchette shrugged it off, "I would have done the same thing if I were you. Anyway, I've got a shelter nearby. We can talk there."

Greed looked at the dog limp away," Are you the only one here?"

"If I tell you now, it wouldn't be much fun, would it? Hurry up!" with that said, he scuttled off again and the two homunculi just followed.

Freesia smiled as they went and threw a sideways glance at her companion. Nudging him playfully, she then said, "I told you you'd find something that belonged to you."

Greed just nodded, "Whatever you say..."

They reached a small 'tent', or at least it passed for one in appearance and with a swish of fabric, Dorchette disappeared into the makeshift home. There was some excited chatter when the homunculi were within hearing range and a few seconds later, Dorchette's head popped out of the tent, "Come on in!"

The two entered and Greed was the first person to recognize the bulky body lying on the makeshift bed. (Well, it's comprised only of two blankets and a few stuffed sacks for pillows...)

"Roa!" the greedy homunculus' grin grew wide at this point, "I can't begin to imagine what it would take to get rid of you two."

A deep chuckle came out of the muscular chimera, "I'm just glad you made it out fine."

Greed just looked at Freesia, smirked and said, "I got lucky."

"You two scared me there. I was waiting for our regular visitor back at the underground entrance," Dorchette said breezily, smoking on his pipe. Miraculously, it survived the ordeal the owner's been through with only a few dents and scratched to tell the tale.

Roa however, looked a lot worse. His right eye was covered with a few layers of gauze and most of his limbs were bandaged. A few areas were in terrible need of a change and for the first time, Roa appeared weak and helpless.

Recalling what Dorchette just said, Freesia piped up, "Regular visitor? You mean there are people who actually come down here?"

Dorchette nodded, smiling, "Yeah. She's a gem too. Brings food and medicine for us. We could be living temporarily in her uncle's inn, but no one's strong enough to carry Roa. We'll just have to wait till he recovers, or at least till he's fine enough to walk," he then took another drag off his pipe, blowing the smoke outside.

Just then, Greed noticed something, "Someone's missing... Oh, right. Where's Martel? It's not everyday I see you three separated."

Dorchette nearly choked on the smoke from his pipe and Roa had to pat the dog on the back a couple of times. Greed raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"(Cough, cough!) M-Martel... She's... well... (Sigh...) she didn't make it..." the swordsman mumbled, looking down at the concrete floor sadly. He whimpered like the pup he was when Roa pat him on the head sympathetically.

The expression on Greed's face told it all. Freesia, who sat next to him could faintly hear him growl Pride's name under his breath, hands clenched tightly into fists. She couldn't help but feel sorry for him and thought, '...Martel...' she must have been the rubbery army woman from before. After all, she was the only one in the crowd who appeared to be fighting fit. At least, the only woman in the crowd who wasn't a prostitute.

The tension in the small 'room' was so tense, if it was a material, one could cut it with a knife. Light, rapid footsteps broke the silence and the 'door' was flipped open to reveal an oriental-looking girl of around 13 or so, dressed in a brown sundress, a white apron and a pair of black martial arts shoes, carrying a rather large basket full to the brim with food and a bag slung over one shoulder which looked too big for her and reeked of medicine. She had dark brown eyes and her chestnut hair was tied back with a red ribbon in a very odd fashion.

"Hey Mr. Dorchette, Mr. Roa! Sorry I'm late!" the young lady chirped, smiling at the aforementioned duo.

"Yukino! I thought you'd never come. I'm starving..." Dorchette whined, his stomach grumbling just to prove his point. Yukino giggled and set the basket down in front of the chimera,

"Here. I brought extras today," she said sweetly. Dorchette immediately grabbed a loaf of bread and started wolfing it down, making Roa sigh in such a way you could have sworn he just said, 'Do you eat to live or live to eat? Slow down!'

Their young visitor saw the two homunculi and asked, "Are you two friends of Mr. Dorchette and Mr. Roa?"

Since Greed didn't look like he was in the mood to talk, Freesia decided to answer for him, "Uhm... Yeah. I'm Freesia and this is..." Freesia paused before mentioning her companion's name. Should she create a name for him or shouldn't she? I mean, people would surely ask, "What kind of parents would name their son Greed?" should they know his name.

Thankfully, Roa was there to cover up for her, "We just call him Greed. He's not willing enough to tell us his real name. No questions asked," the bull smiled a the young lady who merely nodded and said,

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Freesia, Mr. Greed. My name is Shinkou Yukino. I work in a pharmacy."

Dorchette paused in the middle of stuffing his face and managed to say, "Can you believe this kid? She quit school just to help out at a pharmacy..." without choking to death.

She pouted at this, "Alright, that's enough out of you, (1) Doro-doro! Let's see if your wounds are healing well!" with that said, Yukino ripped the cloak off the swordsman and started inspecting the concealed wounds that Dorchette had kept hidden under his clothes. Greed was kind of surprised at how Dorchette still managed to move around or even live for that matter after sustaining such serious injuries. Several parts of his body were stitched and the homunculus highly doubted the dog to heal without looking like a rag doll.

Yukino frowned, "You've been doing vigorous exercises again! Really, don't you **_EVER_** listen to what a doctor has to say?" she scolded, motioning to a few burst stitches along Dorchette's dominant arm. Freesia had a really clear idea of how that came to be...

With surprising skill and confidence, Yukino had patched Dorchette up, as good as new and then scooted over to Roa, her bag of medicine less than an arm's length away.

As she changed Roa's bandages, Freesia was able to see the many hideous wounds the large man had. It must have been very painful, since some are still bleeding, though not profusely. She was just wondering how Roa could still keep a straight face through all that. To add to the list, an ugly scar marred the bull's face, running from the centre of his forehead, down past his eye and almost slicing it in half then stopping only on the right side of his throat, very close to an important vein. From the looks of him, it didn't look like his eye was going to see anything ever again.

"Oh yeah, by the way, Mr. Grendel said he may or may not be coming back. He said he had something to attend to. As usual, he said I'm too young to understand and told me to 'run along'... Gosh, what does he take me for! Five?" Yukino grumbled as she cleaned up Roa's wounds with some disinfectant and some cotton wool.

Dorchette huffed, "I wouldn't worry about him. Heck, he won't listen to a thing almost anybody says," As he put his pipe to his lips again, Yukino awarded him with a whack on the head, courtesy of her bottle of disinfectant, "Ow! What was that for?"

The nurse gritted her teeth at him, "How many times must I tell you; smoking is no good for you! Put that away before I dispose of it personally!" their favorite mutt quickly stowed his beloved item away in his gi, as if Yukino would never guess that he'd have hidden it in there.

Looking into the basket of food again, Dorchette pulled out a roll of newspaper from the bottom, "Hey, have you heard? That thief in Aquoya's active again."

Greed raised an eyebrow at the chimera, more out of habit than interest and said, "Why would I be interested to know that?"

Freesia looked worried, "I sure hope the friend my father's going to meet in Rush Valley isn't that thief..."

"Oh, right. Your mom did mention that his friend is a resident of Aquoya. Or at least that was how she put it..." Greed said, turning his head slightly to look at the female homunculus in the eye. She blushed a bit, recalled this as her first time having a casual conversation with him at such close proximity.

Their curtain of a door was flipped open again and a tall man wearing a weather-beaten oversized trench coat and a large, faded hat that hid his face came into the scene, towering over them, "Sorry I'm late." He mumbled, loud enough for everyone to hear him. Freesia could have sworn he was growling.

Yukino smiled, "Welcome back, Mr. Grendel. For a second there, I thought you'd left town."

Grendel simply nodded, "I would if I had the money."

"Good that you don't at least Mr. Dorchette and Mr. Roa won't be so lonely," Yukino chimed, gently patting a piece of gauze over Roa's severed eye.

They may not have seen it, but Grendel's eyes shifted their gaze towards the two homunculi sitting nearby and upon setting his eyes on Freesia, he lunged towards her and pinned her to the ground, a clawed left hand emerging from the left sleeve of his coat and the face of a blue-eyed beast from under his wide-brimmed hat,

"Why have you come, Lust? I told you I'm never returning there again!" he half-roared, tightening his grip on Freesia's neck. She gasped for breath, gripping Grendel's deformed but powerful arm in an attempt to dislodge it from her throat, but to no avail.

Everything started to grow dim and she could faintly hear Dorchette and Yukino asking Grendel to release her. She was as good as a goner when the pressure on her neck had disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. Freesia sat up, giving her lungs the air they so desperately needed.

A splash could be heard and Freesia turned to look. Greed was standing not too far away from her, one hand on his hip and the other hanging loosely by the side of his body and his shield was just itching to be activated.

Grendel resurfaced from the water, clambering back onto the concrete floor with ease, only to encounter a very displeased homunculus. From where Freesia was, she guessed that Greed must have thrown the chimera into the water. But looking at him sway slightly even as he stood motionless made her wonder if he seriously was going to pick a fight with Grendel.

The chimera growled at him, "Who are you and what business do you have with her?"

Greed rolled his eyes skywards, "I haven't seen anyone as clueless as you for quite some time now."

"What?"

"What I'm saying is, she's not who you think she is," the tall homunculus cocked his head in Freesia's direction, "She's not Lust."

Grendel frowned and looked at Freesia again, just to make sure. Just as Greed had said, she wasn't Lust. The crimson mark on her shoulder told it all. Also, Freesia looked younger and had larger eyes. The dark must have messed around with his eyes because Grendel looked like he just got hit by a ton of bricks.

"...Sorry about my attacking you..." he mumbled and retreated to a 'far' corner of the 'room' after retrieving his hat and stayed there, motionless.

Greed smirked; satisfied with what he just saw until the persistent itching in his throat came out as coughs. They got more violent the more he coughed and the pounding headache he had forced him to go outside as to not infect the others.

Freesia looked at him leave and said, "I'll be right back," she left the shelter swiftly and was just in time to catch Greed, who had clumsily tripped over his own feet as he was swaying dangerously. She sat the two of them down, Greed's back facing her and asked, "Are you alright?"

"What does it look like?" he rasped, attempting to suppress a cough but to no avail. Freesia frowned and reached around him to touch his forehead. He was warmer than he was the day before!

"I told you, you should've stayed in bed!" she scolded, sitting backed up to the wall and pulling Greed down so his head would be resting on her lap. Turning her right hand into water, she pressed it on his forehead before he started complaining.

Greed sighed, "It's not like this fever's going to kill me, now let me go," he attempted to sit up but Freesia's left hand pressing down on his chest prevented him from doing so, "...Fine, let's have it your way," he said grumpily, crossing his arms over his chest.

Freesia laughed, "It's for your own good, alright? He didn't reply, except for the occasional cough that broke the silence between them.

Just as he was getting comfortable, Freesia asked, "Greed, why did you help me just now? I could've pulled something off."

The person she was talking to scoffed, "Quote; "could've". Miracles don't just happen as you want it to, Freesia."

"...You haven't answered yet."

He sighed, "You're denser than you look, you know that? Alright, let's start with the basics. What's my name?

Freesia looked at him quizzically, "Greed."

"Right. As my name implies, I'm a very greedy person. Anything I like or fancy, I take it as mine."

"And your point is?"

Looking up at her lazily, he reached up and touched the side of her face, "I consider you mine. No one else's. And I don't like people who mess with what belongs to me."

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_**-DUBLITH TRAIN STATION-**_

"Gosh, what month **IS **this?" Melody whined, fanning herself with a book. Envy, who never liked the heat, was taking cover under Melody's umbrella as Marcus, who pretty much liked the sun squeaked something to her.

"Marcus, you haven't been messing around with my calendar, have you? Please don't tell me you're serious that it's still in the middle of October!" She whined some more, grumbling something about autumn never reaching Dublith and exited the station, dragging her bag behind her.

Envy brushed a damp lock of his hair out of his face and merely tagged along, "Your first time here in Dublith?"

Melody, who was fiddling with the map said, "I was originally from Aquoya. I moved to Central 5 years back without visiting any other cities. What do you think?"

Her companion shrugged, "So, where's our destination?" he asked absent-mindedly, looking around the desert city.

"Nowhere special. Just a darned inn called the 'Helios'. According to this map..."

Envy gave her a pat on the head, "Hey, Melody?"

The said alchemist swatted his hand away distractedly, "Not now Envy! I'm trying to find..." she was cut off when Envy held both sides of her face from behind and made her look at the building standing right in front of them, "The inn..." Melody finished her sentence and put the map of Dublith away promptly. She made to enter the building when Envy spotted a dark-haired boy wearing something similar to that of his own, wandering around aimlessly. He frowned at the glimpse of red under the boy's right foot.

He was snapped out of his trance by Marcus pulling at his hand and Melody calling to him, "Come on! I won't be responsible should you get serious sunburn. Who knows, I'll give you extra credit if you can bag yourself a stroke while you're at it!"

The homunculus smirked, "Keep on wishing, hun. Keep on wishing," with a swift movement of his arm, Envy had swept Marcus up and sat the small goblin down on his left shoulder. If Envy's guess was right, then he could've sworn Marcus just complained that he wasn't as tall as Major Armstrong...

Later that afternoon, once the trio had checked in, Envy had said that he wanted to go out and take a walk, which he did, leaving Melody and Marcus in their room. They too left not long after that, as they were feeling hungry and Melody still had to go and find Rin's 'prisoners', wherever in Dublith they may be.

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_**-DUBLITH, NEAR THE DEVIL'S NEST RUINS-**_

Freesia stepped out of the ruined entrance, Greed following close behind her and feeling much better thanks to Yukino's medicine. Dorchette had offered to come along with them, but Greed disagreed (no pun intended!) and Yukino totally refused to let him off and even threatened to give him anesthetics if he did. Grendel refused to co-operate, so they just left him at that. Roa... he was totally incapable of helping at the moment.

The female homunculus sighed at her companion, "I can't believe it... After all this time and you're STILL after eternal life? Isn't what you have enough?"

He shrugged, "This isn't what I consider eternal life. Once we run out of red stones, that's the end of the line for us. We'd be as normal as humans are, totally vulnerable to weapons. That's not what I want."

"Well then, what is it that you want then?" she asked, putting one hand on her hip in a disturbingly Envy-ish manner. Greed chuckled to himself and said,

"That's for me to know and you to find out. When I get my hands on eternal life, it'd have forever to think of what I'm going to do with it. No rush, right?" he walked past her and that was when Freesia noticed something.

"Hey, Wrath's gone!"

Greed huffed, "We're better off without the brat," he turned around to face her and was going to say something when a figure standing atop the roof caught his eye, "...Envy...!" he growled, looking up at the said homunculus.

Freesia followed his gaze and instinctively moved behind the Ultimate Shield, finding it the safest course of action. All of a sudden, it seemed as though not one resident of Dublith was in the area. As if they knew this was coming. Now, in that particular street were just the three homunculi against each other.

"Well, well, well... This is just my day, isn't it? So Life, you've been rounding up a lot of problems for me, haven't you? Have you thought of my proposition? Your mother wasn't very pleased with your running away," the skinny homunculus said snidely, looking down at them arrogantly.

Freesia, whom Envy called 'Life', snarled at him, "I don't recall having a mother. You can just go back and tell her I refuse to go to her. If she wants me, then she'll just have to come and get me."

Envy rolled his eyes skywards, "Aren't you going to make this any easier for me? Just so you know, you're running away with one of her masterpieces."

"...What masterpiece?" She got curious, but didn't let her guard down.

He smirked, "Don't you know? You're the only homunculus among the eight of us who was made from a complete Philosopher's Stone."

Both Greed and Freesia's eyes widened. The tallest of the three looked over his shoulder at her and said to Envy, "How do I know you're not bluffing?"

The aforementioned homunculus laughed, "How do I know? You're as dense as ever, baby brother. The Stone is capable of many things. One of them that you can see on her is that, she has the power to use alchemy, even though she lacks a soul."

"Is that the only reason why she wants me?" Freesia suddenly asked. To the men's surprise, she was smiling, "If it is, then all the more reason for me to decline. I'm not about ready to just give that conceited woman what she wants! As I said Envy; she wants me, she comes and gets me!"

Envy frowned at her, "I'm sorely disappointed. Well then, if that's how you put it..." Envy's body started to shift again. Freesia was expecting him to shift into a beast, but what she saw actually scared her. He was a monster.

Greed had to tackle her out of the way when the monster Envy had become jumped down from the building, causing the ground under him to sink ever so slightly, "What's the matter? You scared?" Envy taunted, laughing at the terrified look on Freesia's face.

Her companion cleared his throat, preventing a cough from escaping and said to her, "Snap out of it. You've gone through worse things than him. For all you know, he's just a confused kid who can't make up his mind; whether he wants to be a he or a she."

A vein popped on the monster's temple, "I dare you to say that again."

Greed smirked smugly and activated his shield, "Why can't you just tell the whole world you're a he-she? That would make everything a whole lot simpler than just having you faking to be a guy every time I see you?" he said off-handedly and moving into a stance.

Freesia was hearing things. She fell to her knees behind Greed, both hands on either sides of her head, listening to all those pained voices, pleading to be released over and over again, "Get out of my head..." she muttered, not realizing that she had doubled over in the process. She forced herself to look up, and at the sight of the monster's forearms, the pleads grew stronger, as if pulling her to them.

A memory resurfaced suddenly and Freesia froze.

_Lilith was four then. She was just playing with her favorite ball in her mother's mansion and somehow, the little round object fell down into the basement. She grumbled. It was always dark in there and it scared her to no end. Her father was at work and her mother never liked to be disturbed, so gathering up all her courage, the little girl went into the dark basement with only a candle as she wasn't tall enough to reach the switch, neither was there a stool in sight._

_Down below, the smell of something foul reached her nose and she coughed a couple of times because of the stench. But, determined to get her ball back, she waddled around the dark room, unable to see much of her surroundings when she heard voices. Human voices, moaning in pain and they were moving. It seemed that they've stopped against something, probably a metal fence to keep them away from her and before she advanced any further, she retreated. Her legs shook with every step she took and when she bumped into a cell and turned around, the face of a sickly old man reaching for her made her scream. _

_She dropped her candle. Everything grew dark. Lilith screamed again and shrieked when a bony hand gripped around her ankles. She was crying, calling out at the top of her lungs for her mother, no matter how much she disliked the woman and no matter how much the woman disliked being disturbed._

The mere recollection caused Freesia to break. She suddenly shrieked, tears streaming down her face even though her enemy stood before her. Greed was on the ground not too far away, regenerating himself as some of his limbs were missing and was shouting something at Envy that Freesia couldn't hear. She probably couldn't be bothered to hear him.

Before she knew it, she was looking down monster Envy's throat, her whole being frozen at the surprise attack and before long, darkness consumed her. Or rather, Monster Envy had consumed her.

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(1) 'Doro-doro' was a nickname that suddenly popped up in my head while I was reading the FMA manga one day. I recalled that they pronounced Dorchette's name as 'DO-RO-SHI-ETTO' in the anime, so I just took the first two syllables and started calling our favorite mutt 'Doro-doro'. :) The name's pretty catchy too.

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Uh-oh...

What do you think will happen? Envy's pretty intent on taking her back, isn't he? What will Melody say to that? We'll just see in the 16th chapter. However, the big question is, is this the end of the 8th homunculus?

I know what you guys must be thinking.

WHY in the world am I uploading? Simple. My mom can't keep me away from my laptop for very long. :) I found it hidden in my mom's closet one day and decided to do some typing in secret. Yeah, it's a slow process, but someone's gotta do it. I mean, I won't wanna be kept away from my friends who are reading this fic!

Okay, my general overlook for this chap; I think it's crappy... -.-;; Something just doesn't feel right while I'm typing so if anyone thinks I should redo this chap, please do.

Oh yeah, if anyone's asking about where Jonathan is, don't worry. He's got his hands full with other issues and I assure you, you'll be enlightened soon enough.

See you in secret for the next chap!

-TyrantFlame- (R 'N' R please!)


	16. Reaching Out

The 8th Sin

-Reaching out-

Hoyo! I'm again, typing in secret... Hopefully mom doesn't find out... That way, my laptop will survive long enough for me to finish this fic.

So, how do we like this story so far? Sluggish progress? Just average? I can speed things up a bit but not too much. I got a Kingdom Hearts project I'm working on right now that I spend a bit of time on. Oh, and examination day's drawing closer so I may not be uploading the 17th chapter till the 8th of June.

Okay, let's start the 16th chapter from where we left it off. In Envy's stomach.

Please R 'n' R!

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_**-DUBLITH, IN FRONT OF THE DEVIL'S NEST-**_

Greed stared as Freesia vanished from sight, disappearing down Envy's throat. He had completely regenerated by then and with what little control he had over himself; he'd lunged for Envy, shield half-activated and knocked the monster down with a powerful blow to the head.

The large beast smirked as he got back on his feet and looked at the Ultimate Shield, "What's the matter? Lost your favorite toy?"

"Give her back, Envy... She's mine!" he threatened, his shield now fully activated.

Envy laughed. This was all so amusing, "And you expect me to? You know me better than that..." he cooed, the annoying smirk still plastered onto his face. Greed made to attack again, but this time, Envy managed to evade his fast and painful blows by slamming the tall homunculus down to the ground with a strong swipe of his clawed hand.

"Face it Greed, you're as good as dead once Dante gets her hands on you."

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_**-INSIDE ENVY-**_

The voices were growing stronger. The walls were closing in on her. Her fears were resurfacing, one after the other. All the horrid images she thought she'd long forgotten now within her reach. From the moment her incomplete life was brought from behind the door, completed artificially only with a stone with mystical powers, brought to existence through the death of many.

'Make it stop...!' she cried to herself, closing her eyes to try and block out the images, but to no avail. They kept on coming in torrents. The faces of the people she'd killed for Dante to create a new Stone, the blood on her hands.

The forsaken souls of those Envy had consumed now moaned louder than ever, as if using her body as a medium and once again, Freesia broke down, screaming for them to stop making her feel the guilt she was feeling. Pounding her hands down onto the insides of Envy's body, she didn't realize that she had started an alchemic reaction.

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_**-OUTSIDE-**_

Something didn't feel right in Envy's body. It was as if his body was rejecting his transformation into his true form. Sparks shot out of several parts of his body and wherever the sparks touched, he reverted back into his human form.

"What the...?" His face started to return to its former appearance and up to this point; he himself was rejecting the change, making the transformation painful. Doubling over in pain, Envy clutched his mid-section, where the pain was most intense. As a matter of fact, it felt as if his whole body was going to burst open!

Greed sat up as the sin of envy shrank at a fast pace, agonized yells that were unlike the thin homunculus sounding as if his very voice was being ripped out of his throat. Envy found himself down on all fours, his hands on either sides of his head and his whole body now back to its original state. The pain had subsided.

Silently heaving a sigh of relief, he attempted to push himself back onto his feet but as soon as he moved, the pounding headache returned, teamed up with an even stronger pulse coming from his chest. Once again, he was screaming in pain as this time, an unsightly bulge formed on his back, growing bigger every second. Anyone within sight could have sworn Envy's body was splitting in half until another body was being formed on the homunculus, conjoined.

The face was that of Freesia. She pulled herself out of Envy's body as if she'd done it on everyone she sees and upon separating herself from her captor; both homunculi fell to the ground, exhausted. Freesia recovered at a nearly impossible rate, though. It was almost as if she'd sucked the energy right out of Envy. Greed stood before her and she picked herself up, avoiding his eyes.

"...I don't want to know what just happened..." she muttered. The sky, which was bright and sunny not too long ago, now darkened considerably as thunder rumbled within the heavy clouds.

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Melody sighed. Just as she was getting used to the sun, the rain just had to come down. Luckily, she'd bought an umbrella for a souvenir from the previous shop she'd visited and was now trudging along the now muddy road, regretting the fact that she was wearing a new pair of sandals.

"Marcus, quit playing in the rain! I'm gonna be paying the medical bills if you get sick!" she said sternly, keeping her younger sibling under the protection of her umbrella. At the same time, the path they were taking was leading to the commotion that she heard not too long ago. The residents, for some odd reason, didn't seem to have realized or even heard the sounds, so she just went and checked it out.

Upon rounding a corner, Melody saw two people, clad in mostly black standing in front of each other and the smaller one was shouting something at the man she was with. The alchemist couldn't make out the words as the rain was coming down heavily but once she realized who the two were, "Greed! Freesia! What are you two...? HEY!" she cried as Freesia ran off and Greed following suit a few moments later. She broke off into a sprint but slowed down mere seconds later as the mud was now dirtying her sundress.

Panting slightly as she just remembered that she was incapable of running very long, she saw another black-clad figure on the ground and upon recognition, she dropped her umbrella and knelt down next to the fallen figure, "Envy!" she flipped the homunculus over onto his back with some effort and was glad to see that he was merely unconscious.

She heaved a relieved sigh and suddenly realized something. Why was she so concerned of his well-being? After all, she had not known him for very long and it would've been better if she just left him on the road. After all, she had to pay for his ticket here!

Envy muttered something weakly in a semi-conscious state and this made Melody smile. Okay, so maybe behind that annoyingness, she found him adorable. You can't blame a girl for falling in love with that trait, can you?

She motioned Marcus to come towards her and when the goblin was within her reach, she clapped her hands together and touched the seal on his belly. She manipulated the contents of his body in such a way that he was roughly her height with a strong upper body, "Marcus, be a darling and help me take him to the inn."

She smiled sweetly at her brother, who grumbled something under his breath and as the boy lifted Envy off the ground, Melody sneezed, "Oh, crud..."

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_**-SOMEWHERE IN THE ALLEYS OF DUBLITH-**_

Freesia finally slowed down from her sprinting, breaths coming in gasps as she fought to put oxygen back into her system. It was quite dark and narrow in the alley as she leant against the damp wall, frightened tears running down the face, mingling with the rain.

Why were her memories resurfacing? She didn't ask for this. All she wanted was to just live like a normal human being, knowing the fact that her being a homunculus couldn't be reversed. This was just too screwed up... Knowing her, the more these memories sprang to life, the more 'reflex' actions she was more prone to make. The event not too long ago made her stomach churn, the feeling of the body cells of two separate bodies splitting from one another to form two organisms.

Who knows, one of these days she may end up hurting those who she was closely attached to, namely her adopted parents, Greed and the chimeras she just met that day. She doubled over, exhaustion kicking in for the second time as she tried the best she could to steady herself on jelly-like legs. They felt so weak...

"There you are," said a smooth voice from behind her. She didn't have to turn around to know who it was. The event where her heart skipped a beat was enough for her to recognize the owner of the voice.

She felt half-glad and half-angry. Glad because he came all the way here to look for her and angry because he didn't heed her warnings, "I thought I asked you to leave me alone," she said coldly, not bothered to look at him. She took a few wobbly steps deeper into the dark alley in an attempt to hide herself from view but from the eyes of the greedy homunculus behind her, it was impossible.

Silence hung between them, the only sounds audible to them being the sound of the rain pouring down on them. She heard footsteps, and she didn't like the fact that they were moving towards her, "Go away! I don't want have to hurt you," she said warningly, moving her head ever so slightly to look at the other homunculus.

Greed smirked behind her, "Hurt me? You're not that kind of person, Freesia," his footsteps stopped right behind her. Where behind her, she didn't want to know because she could feel his warm breath tickling her neck.

She fell silent for a moment, "Then what kind of a person am I? With this body and with whatever powers the Philosopher's Stone I was made with has, killing and maiming others is like standing still!" she cried, taking another wobbly step forwards and falling, her knees buckling under her. A strong arm wrapped around her waist and hoisted her back on her feet easily.

"It didn't take a genius to know that."

"Then you should know better than stand so close to me."

A chuckle escaped her companion as he spun her around to face him easily, one hand wrapped tightly around her left wrist and his other hand on her right shoulder, pinning her to the wall, "You're dangerous Freesia, and we all know that. It's probably what got me hooked onto you," he growled into her ear, closing in the gap between them.

"Your strength can either be a poison or a medicine. It's all in how you use it and whether or not you control it or you let it get to you. Are you following?" he asked, not moving from his position. Freesia nodded slowly.

He smiled, "Good. As I said earlier today, you belong to me now. I don't like people messing with what belongs to me and I **_hate_** having my things running away from me. Can I have your word for not running away like you did?"

"...Yes..." she said in an almost inaudible tone, feeling all warm and fuzzy from his sudden intimacy. What happened next could have made her explode with excitement.

Greed's face hovered over hers, their lips brushed together in a gentle kiss. At first, Freesia felt shocked at what the taller homunculus was doing to her but soon relaxed, closing her eyes and putting her free hand on his shoulder, gently tugging at the tight, sleeveless top he donned so he'd be closer to her.

Tender became more intense with passion, hardened with possessiveness. Of course, all good things have to have an ending. They both pulled away for some air and with a smirk, Greed said,

"(1) It's a promise then."

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_**-CENTRAL, WINRAIN RESIDENCE-**_

Jonathan decided to take the day off on that day, the dark clouds that hung around Central on the day before finally blown off and revealing the clear blue sky outside as the Storm Front Alchemist took a stroll outside, feeling a bit contented to have some time to himself. Really, working like a donkey for the military stresses you out to the point of having to go to the asylum once in a while.

Of course, John wasn't one to leave the house armless. If there was one thing you learn from sticking to the military, it's to always be on your guard. You never know when misfortune decides to befall you. As he was walking, he saw Teresa again, but this time she wasn't alone. She was with a girl who looked no older than 11 with long dark hair that reminded John somewhat of Freesia and wearing black almost all over.

Teresa's eyes widened at the sight of him, as if he wasn't supposed to be here at that instant. As a matter of fact, the woman looked half-scared. The look on her face disappeared as suddenly as it had come and he saw her talking to the little girl in such a way he could have sworn Teresa was trying to talk the girl into walking away.

Of course, that didn't work. The girl looked over her shoulder and the instant her eyes met John's and her face was visible for him to see, he froze in his tracks, "Mia...!"

A smirk played on the corners of the girl's lips, "Why if it isn't Jonathan Winrain."

"That's impossible, you're dead!" John stared at her in disbelief, approaching the little girl slowly. Just as he was close enough to touch her, something pushed him back. A somewhat invisible force. The wind was knocked out of him as he hit the pavement hard and he found himself coughing as he sat up.

"I've been waiting for a long time for this day to come..." the girl said in a venomous tone, traces of amusement evident on her pale face. As she said so, her right hand emitted a faint red glow.

"Stop it! We're not supposed to attract attention to ourselves!" Teresa hissed, grabbing the girl by the shoulder.

Mia's eyes narrowed as she frowned at the platinum-haired alchemist, "Get your filthy hand off me," she said dangerously and from her left hand, a great wave of energy swept past the alchemist's body and flung her backwards, hitting a street lamp.

For a woman, Teresa could be given credit for toughness as she was still standing, though her legs looked like they would give way any second. Traces of red could be seen at the back of her head, where she'd been cut slightly. She was breathing heavily as the pain she felt mere seconds ago seemed to be replayed by her body over and over again to the point that she was forced down to her knees, the pain now growing intolerable.

John was back on his feet now, "Mia, what's wrong with you?"

"Don't call me that!" the girl bellowed, violet eyes flaring with fury. John's eyes widened slightly at the sense of familiarity, "You're the one who tried bringing me to life. Put two and two together, you'll find out what happened to me," she seethed, both hands now glowing ever so slightly.

He didn't need telling twice. In fact, he found the bitter truth to what his former younger sibling had become. He just needed one more proof, "The Ouroboros tattoo. Where is it?" he asked in a somewhat random manner, his right hand instinctively going to his belt, where his rod was.

The girl merely stood a little sideways and tossed her hair back to reveal the crimson mark on her neck. Closing his eyes as if a headache just hit him, John muttered a string of curses under his breath, "Homunculus..." he said, this time loud enough for Mia to hear him.

"You catch up quickly, don't you?" she asked in turn, each word dripping with sarcasm.

"Mia, I..."

"My name isn't 'Mia'!" she yelled, sending an energy pulse towards John again. However, this time, he came prepared. Quickly, he transmuted his rod into his lance, which he was best accustomed with and created a wind shield to disperse the blast. Unfortunately, not all of the blast was dispelled. A few stray blasts managed to hit him still, and as little as they were, they still hurt. Clouds of dust made it impossible for John to see whatever was in front of him as the blast made contact with his wind shield and without him realizing it, Mia was right over his head in mid-jump, her right hand extended so it would be mere inches away from his face,

"I am now called Betrayal."

John was fast enough to dodge her second assault and attempted to stab her, only to have his assault easily deflected with a single kick. He was going to pull his lance back for another attack when Betrayal landed gracefully on the length of his lance so he wouldn't be able to move and kicked him backwards, squarely in the chest.

"Painful, isn't it?" she asked off-handedly, looking at her former brother picking himself up slowly. She frowned though. He didn't exactly receive the full impact of her blow as he had jumped backwards just before her foot made contact with his chest. John sat up, looking at the homunculus standing before him.

"Not as much as when I lost you," John said quietly, very sure the little girl could hear him.

Betrayal stared at the alchemist as if he grew a second head. Her lips curled up into a smile and soon enough, she threw her head back, laughing the hardest she had ever laughed ever since she became a homunculus.

"Not as much as when you lost me? That's priceless, Winrain! If it did hurt, then why did you leave me lying on the floor, bleeding like there's no tomorrow? Feeling deathly pain for a second time when I should have been living like any normal younger sister?" she said angrily, glaring at John.

John looked down at his feet guiltily.

_It was only five months after Mia's murder. A mere five months and already, John decided to try and bring her back, at the tender age of ten. The very age where he decided to study human transmutation. His grandfather had warned him never to perform a human transmutation, but who could blame him? A young, naïve boy with an exceptional talent in alchemy who simply misses his younger sister dearly. It was wrong, he knew it as he drew the complicated array, but he had to try._

_For the sake of Mia, he'd do anything to have her back. _

_Everything was set. The array was completed; the ingredients were placed in the centre. All it needed then was for him to activate the array. His hands touched the circle, and the sin was done._

_A bright flash of light, proof of an alchemic reaction taking place blinded him, but he didn't care. The only thing on the boy's mind then was to have his sister back at all costs. He found himself standing in front of the mysterious door. Shadows grabbed hold of him, immobilizing him. A single looming shadow with the ancient runes of destruction and agony claimed his right eye as payment that he ever entered there in the first place._

_By the time he was back in his backyard, half the boy's face was drenched in his own blood. His right eye was gone. Where he expected to see Mia was only a distorted mass of flesh, every breath unstable and pained, struggling to live. Everything grew dark after that._

That's right. It pained him. Be it physically with the forced removal of his eye, forcing him to replace it with an automail one or emotionally, the scar, the pain of losing his only sibling cutting deeper by the minute. It was 7 years ago and when he finally found her again, she was all for killing him. This wasn't what he wanted.

But then, he couldn't blame her for acting the way she was. It was still his fault for being incapable of bringing her back. Incapable of fulfilling his own promise of protecting her. Betrayal looked down at him, almost in disgust and raised her right arm, which had the ancient symbols of destruction. She was going to destroy the Storm Front Alchemist once and for all. It was what she had always wanted to do. Get back at the person who brought her into this forsaken world and abandoned her, left her to die for the second time.

"Good bye, Jonathan Winrain," she said in a barely audible voice. She was going to send forth another powerful blast of energy at the alchemist before her when she felt that her arm wouldn't move. Looking up at her immobilized limb, she found that some mysterious barbed vines were wrapped around it. Looking back with a look that could kill, she saw Teresa on the ground, face first with a small alchemic array near her left hand, drawn onto the pavement with her blood.

"If you want to die so badly, then why didn't you say so?" Betrayal directed her left arm, which had the ancient symbols of agony at the woman. But, before she could release another wave of energy, Jonathan had somehow mustered up enough energy to stab the homunculus from behind and sent a high voltage through her, powerful enough to kill a human being. He wasn't sure if that was going to happen with her, though. Betrayal fell to her knees at the sudden assault and using that opportunity, Teresa drew something over the alchemic circle she just used and re-activated it.

Large, acid green flowers bloomed right before John's eyes, attached to the vines she had alchemized earlier on. They opened and before John could see what they were going to do, Teresa cried out, "Get away!"

Pulling his lance back along with him, clouds of spores were emitted from the flowers, exploding upon contact with the air.

The explosions subsided a few good minutes later and when the dust cleared, Betrayal was nowhere to be seen. Teresa however, didn't look too good. She may have been able to create a concrete wall in front of her, but in her weakened state, it seemed that the wall she had built wasn't able to protect her from the vicious blasts. Debris the size of her fists were scattered around her, some even landing on her and she appeared unconscious.

John unearthed her and flipped her over so he'd be half lifting her off the ground and half making her lean on him, "Hey, you still alive? Hey!" she stirred and looked at John warily,

"...I thought I told you to get away..."

"That's not the point. Why were you with that girl? Where did she come from? How did you know her?" he asked one after the other, making Teresa grip his shirt to shut him up,

"...Hurts... Be quiet..." she mumbled, her hands shaking.

"Alright... But just answer me this; Where did she come from?"

"...Homunculi..."

"Yes, I know she's a homunculus, where did she come from!" Jonathan urged, shaking her slightly when Teresa looked like she was going to pass out again.

Teresa took a few deep breath before falling unconscious again, muttering "Jonathan..." before she completely blacked out.

John half-panicked when she fell limp in his arms. He tried shaking her awake again, but since that didn't work, he decided, regretfully to tend to her in his house. She didn't sustain any heavy injuries so he was confident he could take care of the cuts and bruises that were showing on her pale skin. Picking her up, he retraced his steps back to his residence.

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_**-CENTRAL HQ-**_

A pair of amber eyes looked out of the window distractedly. The man didn't know why, but he suddenly felt something was going wrong. It wasn't a very strong feeling, though so he shrugged it off a few moments later.

Frank Archer sat at his table, doing some paperwork as his guest merely stared on outside the window. Feeling a bit curious, the militant followed the raven-haired man's gaze and saw nothing. Amused, he then asked, "See anything interesting?"

The pale man's gaze shifted to the man in the military suit, a smirk creeping up his features, "None in particular. Do you find it strange of me to daydream?"

"Not strange. Rather disturbing, more like it," Frank said with a chuckle.

The man in red sighed, "So, are you just going to make me sit here all day, or are you going to give me something to do?"

"Oh, I don't know. I might if you would just do as I say and put on your uniform."

Frank's companion rolled his eyes skywards, "Can't a guy stick to casuals with you around? Fine, if it'll keep me busy," with that, the long-haired man made to exit the room, but not before Frank called out,

"Just so you know; I don't appreciate guts on the corridor walls, Kimbley."

Zolf J. Kimbley paused in mid-stride and smirked at the man at the desk, "You're boring Frank. Take a walk. See the sights. See a doctor," he said sarcastically before closing the door behind him.

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I don't know where I've heard it, but people say you seal a promise with a kiss. Did I get that right? Oh well, I liked how the scene turned out anyway. :)

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**Boo! The Crimson Alchemist makes an appearance! O.O;; What does he have to do with the story? We'll be revealing some surprising stuff in the next chapter. Stay tuned if you intend to find out! And yeah, thankfully, I've managed to cover a bit of John's history in this chap, which I'm thankful of and yeah, a few more stuff are gonna happen in the next few chapters, which include certain homunculi, certain people and if I manage to blend everything in well, some chimeras along the way.**

**Yeah, sounds chaotic, but I'll try and make it work. That is, if I'm not given extra homework and I get in a good mood. If anyone has any ideas that you think will make the story interesting, do submit it. I'll be able to squeeze it in the storyline.**

**Oh, I just remembered. The Elric brothers have been missing for quite a long time... Well, I'll need a boost for that. Anyone has any ideas where I can squeeze them in? -.-;;**

**If nobody does, I'll find a way myself. Anyway, enjoy. The Dublith parts here weren't exactly satisfying in my view but I just hope you guys enjoy it. Signing out till chapter 17!**

**Please R 'n' R!**


	17. Rushing?

The 8th Sin

-Can't go back-

So sorry for the late update. I had to study. -.-;; The exams were closing in and I was getting really nervous that I temporarily had writer's block. -.-;; Oh well, I'm back now, so no worries!

Here we are, chapter 17. Wow, I've gotten this far already? O.o I was aiming to finish this in less than 20 chapters, but it looks impossible from here. O.O;;

Anyway, I hope you all like the story so far, because my chapter 16 didn't really look that interesting when I re-read it AFTER uploading it... -.-;; One of these days, I ought to remind myself to read whatever I typed BEFORE I upload it...

Okay, let's start the chapter:)

Please R 'n' R!

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_**-CENTRAL, WINRAIN RESIDENCE-**_

Teresa woke up to the sound of chirping birds. Looking straight ahead, she found herself looking at a white ceiling, tinted orange due to the setting sun outside. Strangely enough, this place was alien to her. It wasn't her room. Wait, did she even wobble all the way to her house? All she remembered was going out to do something, which she 'conveniently' forgot, with Betrayal. Then she saw John...

...That's it! John!

She sat up in a hurry, pain shooting up the back of her head from the sudden movement. She fell back down on the bed with a quiet moan, her hand gently touching the wound. To her surprise, she noticed some bandages wrapped around her head. As she did so, she also saw that most of her wounds have already been cleaned and tended to properly.

The door swung open and footsteps approached the bed. Looking up, she saw the person she wanted to see, "Good evening, Jonathan," she said with a smile, green eyes meeting his blue ones.

He didn't look particularly happy, "Since you're well enough to talk, would you mind filling in the blanks for me here?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Teresa sighed and sat up, slowly this time, "Can't I at least rest first? You have seen what I went through just to save your skin."

"Why did you even bother to in the first place?"

She could've slapped him if she was well enough, "Ungrateful bastard..." she mumbled, looking away.

John looked like he could kill her for saying that. However, he was a gentleman, so he just bit back the urge to murder her in his own bedroom. He said nothing but retreated to his study table, where a book lay open, half-way read.

Teresa looked at him with a faint trace of worry on her features. She wasn't really sure why she helped him either. Plus, she was in an enemy's territory and she wasn't really sure if Betrayal was going to let her surprise attack earlier on slip. In fact, she could almost smell the scent of death around her.

She sighed, "Alright, I'll talk," a page was flipped.

"That homunculus, Betrayal, or whom you call 'Mia' can be considered my senior work-hour-wise. I met a mysterious woman who offered me a job, which I took and was introduced to a few more others. One of them was Betrayal. Sorry to disappoint, but I have no idea where she came from. One thing's certain; she detests me. So if you feel that I'm of no use to you, or you've run out of patience for me, just leave me out on the streets, I'll be sprawled out dead in a few hours," she said flatly, continuing to look at John's back.

John fell silent for a moment, "What did that woman you mentioned earlier on want?"

Teresa smiled, "Something that all alchemists dream of obtaining."

"...The Philosopher's Stone?"

"Smart boy. I have no idea what she wants it for, but I sure would love to have it at my disposal... Those fake Philosopher's Stone I've been hearing about are just too cheap to consider having," she said dreamily, playing with the ends of her hair.

John looked over his shoulder at her, "Do you know where it is?"

"...Where what is?" Teresa asked rather stupidly.

"The Philosopher's Stone. Do you know where it is?"

His 'prisoner' shrugged, "No idea. None of the rumors flying about are believable. I highly doubt Dr. Marcoh is willing enough to share his documents with us, so we'll just have to find an alternate source ourselves."

He eyed her intently, "And that would be?"

She smiled at him slyly, "What do you think? Of course an excellent alternative would be to make it yourself. Though with our level of expertise, we'd only have roughly 32 percent or maybe an even lower percentage of having it successfully created."

"Why would it?"

"Don't you know what the main ingredient of a Philosopher's Stone is?" she raised an eyebrow at him quizzically, amused at his clueless ness. He frowned at her, intent on knowing but Teresa blew it all by saying, "I'll just save the story for another day, seeing you're so tense and all."

John clapped the book he held shut, "Teresa..."

"Don't start. I'm not really sure if I should be telling you all this. However, I'm just giving you a huge hint; if you start with a different topic of conversation, we'll probably stray off to this topic again."

Now this was getting on his nerves. John wasn't very patient at the moment, but he had no choice; Teresa was his only source of information. She saw a small stack of newspapers sitting atop the bedside table and picked one at random, opening it up so she could see it.

"Ah, so you do keep yourself updated," she said in a bit of a regretful tone. John raised an eyebrow and said,

"Just because I'm clueless doesn't mean I don't know a damn thing of what's going on outside, you know."

Teresa giggled and let her eyes skim through the front page. The paper was a few years outdated, but the front page news was still interesting, nonetheless, "I bet you know about the traitor in the paper?" she held up the front page for John to see and he nodded.

"Military traitor, Zolf J. Kimbley. Why?"

His companion looked at him blankly, "You don't see the resemblance? Lots of people say I look somewhat like him," she placed the paper alongside her face so as to make John reconsider, but the man shook his head, "Oh alright, forget I said anything," she tossed the newspaper back onto the bedside table in defeat and lay down again to get some rest.

John looked at her turn over, giving her back to him. This was getting tiring and he didn't feel like entertaining her much, "Do I need to do anything else to loosen your tongue?"

Teresa turned over, smiling at him devilishly. John responded to this by looking as if a ton of bricks just hit him in the face as he rubbed his temples, trying to calm a nerve or two. He was pretty sure his blood pressure would be shooting through the roof if this kept up, "Jumping in bed with you will be the last thing I do in a few millennia. NO."

Teresa pouted, looking disappointed. But then she went and said, "An alternative to that would be just to wait until I feel like talking."

"And that'll take how long?"

"As long as it takes," she said as-a-matter-of-factly and with that, Teresa turned over again.

John sighed, "Teresa, I'm sick and tired of waiting. I need information and I need it now."

He heard her huff, "Since we're on opposing sides, you very well know that whatever comes out of my mouth will decide whether I live or otherwise. So, you have no right to complain as I appear to be helping you and at the same time, trying to prevent my own death," she said bitterly as John looked at her.

She had a point. Teresa was, in fact, in a very dangerous situation. If she knew that, then why was she still talking to him?

John had no idea. The alchemist lying in his bed right now was nothing but a bundle of surprises to him. She turned over again, facing John with a serious expression on her face, "I think you'll find this quite useful," she said abruptly, gathering John's blanket around her.

"Find what useful?"

Teresa smiled, "Well, you do know about the military traitor, right?" John nodded, "I heard he's been re-recruited into the military by a man named Frank Archer."

"And your point is?"

"I'm getting there, Jonathan. I'm getting there. You see, this man, Zolf J. Kimbley is the kind of person who tends to get himself into things he should be messing with and ends up getting in trouble for it. I heard he's got lots of contacts. Some of them probably know of the whereabouts of the Philosopher's Stone. In fact, I know some of the people he knows."

John looked at her questioningly, "Who?"

Teresa shook her head like an innocent child, "I'm not the one who's going to tell you. He is."

The raven-haired alchemist groaned, "Teresa, how would it be possible for me to even talk to him?"

She shrugged, "He's in the military now, isn't he? Just walk up to him, you know, 'Hi, how're you doing? Where's the Philosopher's Stone?' and all that fun stuff. He'll help you if he thinks it's 'fun'."

"...You sound like you know him."

Again, Teresa shrugged, "Why shouldn't I know him? After all, he is my elder brother. I know him like the back of my hand."

John could've sworn she just said Kimbley was her brother, "Did I hear you right?"

Teresa nodded.

"You're kidding me."

She shook her head.

"Liar, your surnames are different."

His companion sighed, "That's because, my dear John, we come from the same mother but different fathers. He's my mom's only son with my step-father Torrance Kimbley and my little brother and I come from my father, Rem De Lis. Gosh, both Zolf and I look like our mother, can't you see the resemblance?" she asked bluntly, tucking one arm under the pillow in a more comfortable position.

John looked at the green-eyed woman and said, "I didn't bother. Anyway, so it's possible for him to help me?"

"Maybe, if you talk to him nicely. I'd talk to him if I'm not so worried about myself right now. I might be leaving for somewhere else in a few days. You know, saving my own skin? So if Zolf doesn't want to talk to you, tell him I said 'please'. Oh, and don't call me 'Teresa' in front of him. He doesn't know me by that name."

"...Right. So what does he know you as?"

"Start by calling me Teresa. When he asks 'Teresa who', say 'Snapdragon'. He called me that because the flower Snapdragon symbolized deception. He always found me a good liar."

"...Are you sure you're not endangering yourself further? Why in the world are you helping me, anyway?"

Teresa shrugged, "I don't know myself. Who knows, Heaven forbids that I may have gotten hooked onto you! What did they call it? 'Love at first sight'?" she lay flat on her back and stared at the ceiling, "...To tell you the truth, I have a strong feeling I may not live long enough to see Zolf again..."

"Don't you have your other siblings?"

The woman scoffed, "I'm glad they're goners now. My step-father died from battle injuries. He was in the military, see? I never got the chance to know him. My father was never home, mother died getting close to something she called 'truth' and God knows how my other two siblings died. They just happen, one after the other."

John raised an eyebrow, "Why's 'Zolf' so important to you?"

"...That's for me to know and you to find out."

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_**-DUBLITH, HELIOS INN-**_

Envy awoke with a start, sitting up as soon as he regained consciousness and as soon as he sat up, his head came in contact with something that made an odd sound and ended up falling back down, both hands over the painful spot on his forehead.

"Ow... What hit me...?" he asked to no one in particular and saw Marcus rolling around at the foot of the bed in pain, also clutching his forehead and fighting back tears.

Melody came into view, grimacing, "Ouch, that has GOT to hurt. Are you two okay?" she picked Marcus up and lay him down on her bed then proceeded to tend to the homunculus.

"It's probably gone by now..." he mumbled, but Melody had already removed his headband to inspect the 'wound' further. Her fingers flitted over his pale skin gently and she removed them moments later, feeling quite satisfied,

"Alright, so you're fine. So, mind telling me what happened back there?"

Envy raised an eyebrow at her, putting his headband back on and suddenly remembered what had happened, "Did you see two people dressed in the same colors as I am when you found me?"

"Oh, you mean Greed and Freesia? I did."

"And you let them go?"

Melody rolled her eyes skywards, "During the freak transmutation, I traded in the very organ that allows me to run. Now I can only jog."

Envy sighed and fell back down on the bed, "Never mind... They probably won't go far..." he muttered.

Melody however heard the last few parts vaguely and asked, "Why are you after them, Envy?"

He fell silent and looked at her, "You won't understand. Not in a million years."

The alchemist didn't move. She just looked into his violet eyes, searching for an answer in their depths, "What about you? Why are you searching for those two? What is your motive besides just helping your winged friend?" Envy asked, looking at her pretty much the same way she was looking at him.

"...I'm afraid I can't answer you... What I will tell you is that I have my motives."

"And so do I. As you said, I can't answer you with my motives either. I don't understand your situation as you don't with mine. Let's just go with the flow, shall we? It's not like you can single-handedly take down both homunculi at once," he said lazily as he waited for a reply from the woman. He didn't want to have to fight her for something as small as the two homunculi he was supposed to take in. But one thing was certain; he had to make a move, and fast. Before Freesia grows any stronger than she already was.

Dante hadn't told him very much about this homunculus she fondly called her '8th Sin'. But from what he was told, Freesia was the first to be created. In other words, she existed before Envy. But, she lay dormant, even after she was fully 'grown'. She only arose as an innocent being, without any knowledge after Wrath, the last of the eight to exist, was discovered. Dante had been secretly teaching her about the other seven, how she was to somehow be their 'harness' in case she lost control of the other seven. Her body was slowly but surely deteriorating, so it was very likely that she wanted Freesia back so she could transfer her soul into Freesia's body.

If she could do anything other than that with the mysterious homunculus' body, Envy didn't want to know. If it wasn't because Dante knew what his weakness was, he wouldn't be taking orders from her. As a matter of fact, Envy hated Dante to bits. Now that he was stuck through all this, he was wondering what would become of him.

He closed his eyes. It was no use thinking about what would or wouldn't happen when the time hasn't come. All he has to do now was just let time make the first move, and he will follow.

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_**-FREESIA'S RESIDENCE-**_

"Mom? Where are you?" Freesia came through the door, sopping wet from head to toe and feeling more than just a little bit cold. She shivered as a cold gust of wind swept into the living room before Greed closed the door behind them. She looked over her shoulder at him and giggled at how miserable her companion looked. What really tickled was the fact that his spiky hair was now as wet as he was and it was now matted to his head, although he had swept his bangs back with his fingers earlier on. Now his hairdo looked a lot like Pride!

Alice came into the living room and sighed at the sight of them. Before Freesia could explain, Alice raised a hand and said, "Don't move a muscle and not a word from any of you. I just cleaned the rug and I'd hate to have to do it all over again. Stay where you are while I go and get you some towels," the elder woman then walked swiftly out of the room, probably out of fear the puddles around their feet would stain her almost dust-free rug.

Freesia undid the black ribbons that held her hair up and let her long hair hang down to her waist. Turning around to face Greed, she smiled, "You know, you look funny with your hair down."

Greed huffed at this, "You don't look any better yourself."

She smirked at him and was going to say something else when her mother came in with two large towels that looked like they could easily pass for a blanket that just got torn in half.

"Mom, when did we have towels the size of blankets?"

"Quit complaining and dry yourselves up before you go upstairs. And once you go upstairs, I don't want you staying in those clothes. You two are going straight to the bathroom, take a long hot shower and change into some dry clothes before you get hypothermia. Freesia, you can use the bathroom in the master bedroom and... Greed, was it? You can use the guest bathroom. Its right next to the store room, you can't miss it. Take off your shoes right here, I don't want mud anywhere else on the floor asides from where you're standing. Freesia, once we're done putting you two in dry clothes, you're to mop the floor," Alice instructed them sternly, earning nods from the two homunculi who couldn't help but wonder how a mere mortal such as her could actually make two homunculi obey her every order.

Freesia then remembered something as she dried where she could with her towel, "Mom, you're forgetting something important."

"And that would be what, may I ask?" Alice put one hand on her hip, more out of habit than annoyance to which Freesia replied,

"Greed doesn't have any spare clothes."

Alice waved it off, "That's not a problem. I've got that covered."

"One more thing mom; are you a fortune-teller?"

"I most certainly am not. What makes you say that?"

"You seem to have a back-up plan for everything," both homunculi said simultaneously. Alice merely laughed and sent the two off to the two aforementioned bathrooms.

---------------------------------------**LATER**--------------------------------------------------------

Freesia dried her hair for the umpteenth time, making sure it was as dry as she could make it and looked at herself in the mirror. What she was wearing looked more like she was getting ready for winter than just preventing hypothermia. As she combed her hair, she pondered. Her mother said she had back-up plans for Greed. That was disturbing. Greed was half a head taller than her and obviously, he would refuse to wear anything that would come out of her closet(As a matter of fact, he'd forever be marred by the memory...), the top of her parents' heads only reached up to her ears and both of them are a lot thinner than Greed.

She hated to think of what her mother was going to do, but all this while, she never doubted her miracle worker of a mom. She looked back at her bedroom door, almost expecting someone to barge in, but it didn't open. Shrugging, she just went back to combing her hair.

Downstairs, Greed had fitted himself in a navy blue, turtle-neck sweater and a pair of baggy gray slacks, his hair now back to its former spiky glory. For a family who were born small, the clothes he was wearing fitted him perfectly.

Alice came into the guest room a few moments later and smiled at the sight of him, "I knew it would fit you."

"How you know, I probably would never understand," Greed said flippantly, pulling the sleeves that he'd rolled up earlier down to his wrists.

The elder woman looked at the homunculus, "What you're wearing is made by pure alchemy. Stop complaining and I'll be nice enough to let you keep it," she said sternly, putting away some freshly laundered and folded clothes into a nearby cupboard.

"So, mind telling me why you and my daughter were in the rain?" Alice put away the last of the clothes and closed the cupboard. Greed shrugged,

"It rained and we were quite a distance from the house?"

His companion giggled, "Okay, I may as well ask Freesia later on, if that's how you say it happened. There's some hot tea in the kitchen in case you're thirsty," with that, Alice left the room, closing the door behind her.

Greed looked at himself in the mirror one last time before opening the door and seeing Llednar walk swiftly past the door and towards the stairs leading to Freesia's bedroom. The homunculus looked on and within the next few seconds, Llednar was walking back and forth, almost as if he wasn't sure where he was going and finally disappeared into his room. How these humans ever live with all the stress, he just doesn't understand...

Deciding he had nothing better to do and that his cough had somehow miraculously vanished after taking Yukino's medicine, he decided to go and disturb the female homunculus upstairs.

A nasty 'thunk' greeted him when he opened the door, followed by the inability to swing the door open, thanks to something blocking the door, "Ouch! Greed! Close the door! That's my face AND my foot you just hit!" Freesia gave the door a little 'ram' with her shoulder and this time; it was Greed's turn to feel the pain.

The door opened again, this time revealing Freesia looking a bit annoyed and rubbing her nose where the door had hit her, "The least you could do was knock! What do you want?" she asked, now balancing on one leg to rub the painful spot where again, the door had hit her foot.

"Is it a sin for me to just drop by? I'm the kind of person who gets bored easily when you coop me up somewhere too long," Greed said plainly, also rubbing a painful spot on his nose. Gosh, who would've guessed that doors could be such harmful things! Freesia smiled and retreated back to her room, allowing him to come in. Inside, Greed saw that she was packing some clothes into a medium-sized suitcase, "Where in the world are you... Oh, right. Rush Valley," he said as he recalled where she was headed to.

"Dad said we're taking the early train there. Hopefully we don't bump into any more homunculi asides from us. How many homunculi are there in this world?" she asked, tossing a few more shirts into the bag.

Greed shrugged, "No idea. There should be 8 so far, including you. Who knows, some idiot from God knows where would try human transmutation and add another one to the list."

"I sure hope not. Of all the homunculi we've come across, you're the only one who hasn't bumped into me with the intention of hurting me."

As she was arranging her things in the bag, Freesia noticed that the room had suddenly grown quiet, as if she had been talking to herself the whole time. Looking both left and right, there wasn't a sign of the greedy homunculus. Where was he? When she straightened up to look for him, a pair of strong arms were wrapped around her slender waist and there he was, resting his chin on her shoulder.

She gasped when he bit gently on a sensitive spot on her neck. Chuckling at her reaction, he murmured in her ear, "Maybe I do intend to hurt you... in a different way. Can you tell?" he pulled her closer to him and made Freesia's cheeks turn an interesting shade of pink.

She turned to look at him over her shoulder and was about to say something when the door opened, "Freesia, do you need help packing? This is your first time to rush Valley, right?" it was Freesia's mother. She raised an eyebrow at how flushed her daughter's face looked and how she was packing her bags at top speed while Greed sat at her desk, riffling through the pages of a book with a bored look on his face, as if he hadn't a care in the world.

"Freesia, honey? Are you alright? Your face is all red."

"I'm alright, mom! No need to worry! I'm just... uh... Done packing! Okay?"

Alice frowned, "Freesia, are you hiding something from me?"

The said homunculus bit her lower lip, twiddled her thumbs and with ease, went past her mother at top speed downstairs, "Freesia!"

"I'll be mopping the floor!"

The elder woman narrowed her eyes. There was something fishy going on... Looking back into her room and at her suitcase, where a few articles of clothing still stuck out of the sides of the bag, she then averted her gaze to the other homunculus sitting casually on Freesia's study table, "You haven't done anything to her, have you?"

Greed merely smirked and shrugged, "What makes you think I did? Hasn't she always been that way?"

Alice crossed her arms, "Freesia may be odd at times, but she doesn't act suspicious."

The homunculus closed the book and placed it on the table, chuckling to himself. He got off it and walked towards the door, where Alice stood in his way, a head shorter than him, "There's always a first time to everything. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be having a cup of tea in the kitchen."

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**Hweel... Gosh, my schedule is sooo tight! Exam starts tomorrow and I'm having English 1, Chemistry papers 1 and 2! Argh, the tension!**

**I'm having a bit of trouble with Envy at the mo, for some odd reason. It's the first time I ever run out of ideas for the palm tree. Anyway, I haven't got much, just this for this chapter and for the next chapter, hopefully I can re-unite them with the Elric brothers. I remember they were supposed to do something but I kinda forgot. :P It'll come back to me. Nothing to worry about.**

**So, now all you have to do is review:) Was this chapter good or bad, it's up to you now. Oh and lightningstrxu, to answer your question; MAYBE. I'm not sure where I can slot him in for now. It's kinda cluttered, but I'll piece them together SOON. Very soon.**

**See you all in chapter 18!**


	18. Snapdragon

The 8th Sin

-Snapdragon-

I went through a few of my exams already...Yay, I guess! Only a few more papers to go... Now I have this chapter up and running, I just hope the quality of my writing hasn't gone down. I've been busy lately, so I'm very sorry if the previous chapters haven't been very exciting. This time around, we'll have a few more guest appearances and hopefully, I can still remember what their roles are supposed to be and still manage to keep them in character. -.-;

Oh yeah, almost forgot! We've got a new character joining in and I sure hope the owner of this character likes how the character turns out. :) In fact, I hope everyone enjoys this chappie...

Okay, let's get on with it!

Please R 'n' R!

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_**-CENTRAL HOSPITAL, THE FOLLOWING DAY-**_

A nurse walked into Rin's ward, just to check up on him and saw the alchemist standing in front of his open window, removing the bandages over some of the minor wounds that have fully healed.

"Aizawa-san, you should stay in bed!" she cried, rushing over to his side to pull him back onto the bed.

The winged alchemist easily wrenched his arm out of her brittle grip, "I know that very well. But if I were to just stay in bed without doing any exercises, how can I expect my wounds to heal?" he sat on his windowsill and looked at the woman straight in the eyes. For as long as he had lived, he had never come across anyone who had ever felt comfortable under his gaze besides John. The nurse fell silent, trying to think of ANYTHING to get him back to bed, only to have herself dismissed by Rin's words,

"Sorry, but I'd like some time to myself. Don't worry, the weather's not that nice to go around flying," he said firmly and before he knew it, the nurse he was with walked out. Now that's better. Looking behind him outside the window and mentally counting how many stories up he was from smashing his skull, Rin pulled on his blue military jacket. Then he looked around his ward one last time, just in case he forgot anything important. After all, he just received a call from a blacksmith friend of his. Something that he wanted was finally completed.

Sighing, Rin closed his eyes and let himself fall out the window. The breeze felt nice on his skin as his jet-black wings spread open and with negligible effort, he was airborne. He had to pause for a moment in mid-flight as a sudden pain shot up his ribs. They weren't fully healed yet... Taking a deep breath, the pain subsided and Rin flew behind the nearest building next to the hospital. He was a few blocks away from the hospital, just to be on the safe side and found himself in a garden that could have passed for a jungle.

Rin gulped at the sight of the barbs on the fences and some of them above him. Those aren't going to feel nice on his wings... He glanced over at the mailbox to see whose house this was and frowned, "...Teresa De Lis..." he knew her alright. She was known as the 'Venom Alchemist' for the alchemy she excelled in and at the same time, he despised her. Something about her made him uneasy. Perhaps it was the air around her that practically screamed that she was watching closely on whomever and whatever it was that caught her attention.

Behind that doll-like face, Rin could tell she was always hiding something and he for one doesn't want to find out. He's gotten himself into more than enough trouble already and he wasn't going to just indulge in another one. Let someone else deal with her. As he checked that the coast was clear, Rin casually walked down the block, hailed a cab and headed towards an old shop that only a few people knew of.

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_**-CENTRAL, WINRAIN RESIDENCE-**_

John had left for work and Teresa was all alone in the house, seeing that she refused to come with him to the office, fearing that she may run into Lust or Gluttony. She was rummaging John's kitchen cupboard for some materials that she could use to make herself a mask. At least something that could help her create a new face.

"Okay... What am I missing...?" she grabbed a pencil from a nearby desk when she finally remembered that she needed some carbon. After gathering all that she needed in the correct amount, she drew an alchemic circle on a piece of paper, dumped all the ingredients in the centre and touched the array. She put on the mask that she had created and carefully smoothed it out so no one could tell the difference and went into the bathroom to look at herself in the mirror.

"Perfect," she muttered, and smiled at her reflection. The mask had successfully made her look a bit younger than she was, made her eyes appear larger, to put it simply, made her appear more adorable than matured. The drawback was, she wasn't exactly a pro when it came to making these things and noticed that the mask was making her smile like an idiot.

Teresa waved it off, deciding not to try and fix it as it made her all the more less suspicious and touched her hair. She always liked the color, having it almost as white as snow, but if she planned on living, she's just going to have to let it go. With a bit of alchemy on the water, Teresa had dyed her hair in a somewhat sandy, golden-brown color. All that was left now was her hairstyle.

The Venom Alchemist found herself sitting in the living room with a pair of scissors sitting comfortably on the table in front of her. She eyed it with utmost loathe, crossing her arms over her chest as if the metal object was just going to suddenly stand on its own and snip her hair off. In the end, the wretched item landed back where she found it; the kitchen. She found a rubber band instead and did her hair in such a way that it was over one shoulder and tied as if she had woken up to see pigs flying. In other words; she looked a bit shabby.

Being a perfectionist, Teresa decided to go and alchemize herself a set of uniform. She seemed pretty sure that John wasn't going to chew her head off for alchemizing some of his old shirts and pants, not to mention a pair of well-worn boots in his shoe rack into a complete replica of the military uniform. It fitted her perfectly and now, Teresa was ready for work.

"Let's just hope nobody can recognize me except for John and Zolf..." she muttered under her breath and walked out the back door towards headquarters.

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_**-CENTRAL HQ-**_

****Kimbley was bored. So very bored. He had long found himself sitting near the fountain for almost an hour now, picking up small pebbles, turning them into bombs and throwing them into the water or at some innocent birds who so happened to land in search of some crumbs.

The day was getting kind of hot, so Kimbley decided to go back into the shade, where it was cooler. As he walked down the empty corridor, the sound of another pair of feet walking behind him caught his attention. He hid a small pebble in his hand, ready to alchemize it and throw it at whoever was following him and finally walked himself to a dead end. Since when were there any dead ends in this darned headquarters, anyway?

Kimbley turned around and faced his 'stalker', "Can I help you?" he asked sarcastically. Not just anyone in their right minds would tag behind him just for the fun of annoying him. Probably because most of them went 'boom'.

John eyed the man in front of him. Why was he here again? Oh yes, Philosopher's Stone, "...I know this is ridiculous, but do you know where the Philosopher's Stone is?"

The amber-eyed alchemist looked at him quizzically, "Philosopher's Stone? Even if I knew where it was, why would I tell you? But... no. I don't know where it is."

"Then do you know anyone who knows where it possibly is?"

Kimbley chuckled as if he was high on sugar, "Let me think... No."

Like brother, like sister... Both of them were practically gnawing on John's good nerve. And John's good nerve was as thin as a strand of hair. He was going to go physical on the older man, but knowing that he had alchemic circles on both his palms, decided to count backwards from ten, take a deep breath and said, "Teresa said you'd help me."

Now, Kimbley looked confused, "Who?"

Okay, this is looking kind of good, "Teresa's a girl whom you used to call 'Snapdragon', wasn't she?"

The Crimson Alchemist smiled to himself, "Ah... So Snap's with you. And? Am I supposed to do you a favor?"

Not that good, on second thought. John had half a mind to just beat the information out of the mad bomber when a girl came into the scene, "You OWE me a favor, Zolf! And you can repay me by helping Jonathan here," she suddenly said, putting one hand on her hip and pushing back her sand-colored hair.

Both men stared at her, "Do I know you?" they both asked simultaneously. At that point, the newcomer had half a mind to just poison them with a few poisoned barbs. Carefully peeling off the mask that she had made so difficultly for herself, the girl revealed her face to the two to see.

"Remember now?"

"Teresa, what are you doing here? I thought you..." John started, but was cut off by Kimbley,

"I did NOT owe you a favor! When did I owe you anyway, you little liar?" he crossed his arms over his chest, looking annoyed at his half-sister.

Teresa smiled slyly and put the mask back on, "Do you really want me to spell it out for you in front of John, Zolf? I may be a liar, but whatever information I hold is the truth. You should know that better than anyone else."

John looked at Kimbley. For the first time, he actually saw Kimbley's face grow pale and he was actually looking a bit scared, "Alright, let's start with what happened..." Teresa started, an evil smirk tugging at the corners of her lips.

"W-W-WAIT! Teresa, breathe one more word about 'it' and..."

"And what? You'll blow me up like you did to all those other people? Not very likely. I'd finish my story before then. After all, you..."

Kimbley's face now grew a bit red. Out of embarrassment or out of anger, John wasn't really keen on knowing, "Alright, FINE! You win, okay? You win! Now shut the hell up and tell me what you want already!" he cried in exasperation, cold sweat running down the side of his face. Teresa smiled triumphantly at her elder brother, who was at the moment scowling at her.

"I know you love me, big brother... Put the frowns away, then we can start talking," she said sweetly, taking out a handkerchief from her pocket and wiping her brother's face dry.

The trio then went to the cafeteria to talk, but just as they were going to pick a table, Teresa asked John to wait at one of them while she went to have a word with Kimbley. The eldest of the trio was pulled into the corridor outside in a matter of seconds and Teresa made sure no one could hear what she was going to say.

"What now, Snap? I'm doing something for free here, don't tell me you want more," the amber-eyed man said grumpily, jamming his hands in his pockets as he leaned against the wall.

Teresa looked at him with a cross between a worried and a sad expression on her face, then sighed, "I can't believe I'm going to tell you this... Anyway, I need you to keep something between us. Can you? If I don't tell this to someone soon, something big's gonna happen."

Kimbley shrugged, "It sounds important. Go ahead."

"Zolf, it IS important. Whether or not I tell this to you, I'm still in someone's line of fire," worry was now evident in her tone.

Her half-brother may be a maniac, but he knows when to be a brother and when to be a mad bomber, "Okay, I'm listening. Just take a deep breath, relax, and then talk to me."

Teresa did as she was told and finally said, "You know about homunculi, right?" Kimbley nodded, "Okay. Good... Bad news; I got involved with them."

"You what?" Kimbley stared at her, wide-eyed. He had experience working with a homunculus, and the homunculus he had dealt with was bad enough. From the sounds of Teresa, he could guess that she was dealing with the worse bunch, "Tessa, are you saying that you're working for them?"

A nod, "I didn't know it would come to this, but they had something we both want."

Kimbley scratched the back of his head,"Correction; something YOU want."

"They're offering me knowledge about the Fifth Element, Zolf! How can I pass that up?"

"I know where this is going..." the man said tiredly, shaking his head lightly.

"Don't you want-"

Before she finished her sentence, Kimbley had moved. As smooth as water and before she knew it, Teresa was now standing with her back against the wall, and Kimbley looming over her with both hands on either sides of her, his yellow eyes burning into her green ones angrily,

"I don't, Teresa. I don't want to have mother or father back. Whatever happened, happened. They're in the past. They're MEANT to be there. Just leave them be, Tessa. Let them go."

Teresa looked like she was on the verge of tears and Kimbley took this as his cue to calm her down before she started the waterworks again, "Listen, the Philosopher's Stone may have the power to resurrect the dead, but what would that do? You get them back, they age again and then they die a second time. Do you want that?" his sister shook her head, "Fair enough, you don't want that to happen. To prevent that from happening, you just butt out of this search for the Philosopher's Stone. Easy as that."

"It's not that easy... They're after me right now. They don't want me passing on information."

Kimbley shrugged, "Then I'll have that done in your place. Since your hands are tied and I've got nothing to do, what's with helping each other out? Well, technically, I owe you a favor..." he grumbled under his breath, "So, are you safe from them at the moment?"

Teresa shook her head, "I don't know. Are you still hot on the Stone's trail?"

Kimbley nodded, "I got a story or two to tell. After all, I won't want to spoil the fun of looking for it."

"Alright, that sounds okay enough. I just need you to promise me something now."

"What would that be?"

Teresa looked around, making sure they weren't being watched and said, "If you're planning on taking John to your contacts personally, we may confront one or two of the homunculi along the way. What I want you to do is to just move on with John. I'll cover you and meet you where I hear rumors about you."

Before Teresa said anything more, Zolf had released her and was walking back into the cafeteria as if she hadn't said a word, "Zolf, are you listening?"

The said man shrugged, "What **DID **you say?" he asked sarcastically. Obviously, he didn't like the conditions she just told him, "You want me to help John or not? If you plan on helping him at all, the sooner the better, isn't it?" with that, he disappeared into the room, where the crowd was growing and where John was waiting very impatiently for the siblings.

"Took you long enough," John said sternly, arms crossed over his chest and frowning at the duo sitting across of him.

That annoying smirk appeared on Kimbley's face, "Chill out, we haven't met for 6 years straight. Can't you give a guy some time to have a reunion with his sibling?"

"So, what do you have for me?"

Kimbley propped his arm up on the table, resting his elbow on the table top and his chin in his palm, "Your interest in the Stone almost disturbs me, you know? Anyway, we've been hearing a lot about an alchemist somewhere in Ishvar."

Teresa raised an eyebrow "Ishvar? Isn't that the Aquoya alchemist who used to be a doctor? What's she doing in Ishvar?"

Her brother shrugged, "No idea. Rumor down below says she claimed to have found a way on how to create the Stone. No idea how she does it, but so far, a few people have been able to see her perform alchemy without an alchemic array."

"Doesn't she have them etched into her palms like you?" John asked out of curiosity.

Kimbley shook his head, "From what I've heard, no. She doesn't have alchemic circles on her palms and I didn't cut these alchemic circles onto my hands, John. I burned them," the Crimson alchemist opened his free hand so John could see the burned flesh in the shape of an alchemic circle.

"Anyway, you may be able to catch her in Aquoya because my sources said that some of the Ishbalan people doesn't like her presence in their land. So, since you're bad with words and my baby sister here would probably start blackmailing her and scare the poor girl out of her wits..." He was rewarded with a stinging slap to the arm, "...Ouch," Kimbley frowned at his younger half-sibling and continued, "Thing is, she's coming back to Aquoya in a week's time. All we have to do is grab the next train to Aquoya and meet with our alchemist friend."

John nodded, "Sounds easy enough. Do we have a name?"

Kimbley leaned back in his chair and heaved a sigh before replying, "Kayla Sheridan."

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**_-DUBLITH, FREESIA'S RESIDENCE-_**

"Greed, have you seen my..."

"It's already in your bag. You packed everything up last night so if you don't mind, quit asking me if you've packed so and so already!" Greed was very irritated that morning as Freesia was looking through a checklist he didn't know she had and started naming one item after another, wondering if she'd packed it in already. When she ignored his complaint, he ended up taking her checklist and dumping the piece of parchment down the trash can, but not before shredding it to bits.

Llednar looked at the two have a bit of childish banter and sighed, "Looks just like when you and I were their age, doesn't it honey?" he slung an arm over his wife's shoulders, receiving a huff as a reply,

"Freesia deserves a better man. I won't allow this to go on," she said sourly, eyeing the taller homunculus who was at the time being, at loggerheads with the aforementioned young lady, "Why in the world is he coming along, anyway? It feels as if he's living with us for good!"

"Honey, for the time being he **IS** living with us. He said he's joining us because he thought he'd meet up with a few contacts of his in Rush Valley. If all goes well, he'll be living with a friend of his there," Llednar said helpfully, picking up both his and Alice's luggage and taking them outside.

Alice frowned. Why was Llednar so good-natured about all this? "Freesia, hurry up, we won't want to miss the train!" she called and put her bonnet on before following her husband's example and heading towards the train station.

"You heard her. Pack your bags and let's go already," Greed said lightly, also making his way to the door. He was now dressed in his usual attire and walking around without his fuzzy jacket and favorite pair of shades made him feel a bit... 'Incomplete', shall we say? He cursed Edward Elric under his breath for picking a fight in the Devil's Nest and making him lose his two most cherished items.

Freesia pouted and picked up her bags, but not until she finally recalled something important, "Greed, can you do me a favor? Can you take my bag outside for me? I forgot something in my room," without waiting for a reply, she bounded upstairs, forcing the greedy one to help her with her luggage. He wasn't even outside when she suddenly popped up right in front of him, hands behind her back and half-scaring him out of his wits but otherwise causing him to back up a few paces,

"Is it just me, or do you have a tendency to do that now that you have full control over your powers?" Greed asked as his companion shrugged,

"I don't know. I think it's kind of useful. Anyway, here's a bit of something for you. Dad helped me with it and I think it looks great," from behind her, she produced an exact replica of Greed's jacket and shades, to which her companion replied by simply staring at the two objects. The question was obvious, '**HOW** in the world did you get your hands on these?'

The 8th 'sin' smiled coyly, "Remember the luggage that I took from the train when we got here? There was a black jacket and a pair of sunglasses so I just had dad to alchemize it into something else. I thought you'd like it..."

"'Like it'? That's an understatement."

"What?"

Greed paused for a moment, "Forget I said anything."

His companion giggled, "Alright, if you say so. Here, put it on! You look kind of funny without them," she said straightforwardly, handing the jacket and shades to the greedy homunculus while she took her bags from him. She smiled when he had put them on. Now he looked more like the Greed she met around a week ago. Before she could comment on him, Alice poked her head into the house and said,

"Freesia, if you're not coming out, we'll miss the train! Hurry up!"

The two were out before Alice got even more annoyed. For some unknown reason, she intimidated the duo...

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_**-DUBLITH TRAIN STATION-**_

"Wow... I kind of can't believe we're heading for Rush Valley in a few minutes," Freesia mused as she got herself settled down in a compartment with her mother and Greed with her father in the next compartment.

Alice looked at her daughter get excited over the trip, "So, you're really looking forward to seeing Rush Valley, is it?"

Freesia nodded vigorously, "Of course! I haven't seen much of the world, save Dublith and Central, so it's a good change. Have you ever been to Rush Valley, mom?" she asked, looking out the window.

"I have, a few times. It's not a place that I particularly like, actually. Since you read a lot in the library, I think you've read about automail, haven't you?" Alice queried as she did a bit of embroidering to pass the time before the train started moving.

The homunculus scratched the back of her head, "Automail... isn't that what people nowadays use to replace missing limbs? You know, artificial body parts?"

"Exactly. Rush Valley is famous for their automail, so there isn't exactly much to see unless you're a fan of it."

"They sound interesting enough to me, so I'll be fine," Freesia smiled sweetly at her mother and stood up, "I wanna go see what Greed and dad are doing. Are you coming?"

Alice laughed, "Freesia, they're just next door. Just because I haven't seen your father for the last five minutes doesn't mean I miss him like I haven't seen him for five years!"

Her daughter shrugged, "I was just asking. Well, see you later, mom!" with that, she vanished from sight, but her voice could still be heard from the next compartment.

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Freesia took one step into the compartment and stared. Since when did the compartment look so full? Greed was having a conversation with someone sitting next to him, who was hidden by his large frame and she could have sworn she could hear a girl talking from the seat next to her father, who was also hidden by her father's newspaper.

"Hey, I didn't know we had guests," she chirped, catching Greed's attention. A familiar head poked out from beside Greed and Freesia gaped, "Aren't you Dorchette? What are you doing here? I thought you're still injured..."

"I may be injured but I'm still well enough to walk. Staying cooped up underground with dim lighting would make me go blind should I stay there longer," the chimera grumbled. Freesia looked at her father. The man didn't look like he was listening at all.

She sighed, "Well, welcome aboard I guess. You do have a ticket, right? I won't want to go and pay it for you or worse, I won't want to go and bail you out of jail," Freesia quipped as she took a seat next to Greed, leaving the said homunculus half-squished between her and Dorchette.

"Freesia, as much as I like having you around, I don't quite like the feeling of being squished. Do you mind sitting next to Lolly there?" he motioned to a teenage girl with light brown hair sitting next to the window, looking outside nervously. She looked as if she just saw the grim reaper wave at her. Freesia did as she was told, being intrigued by this new character and caught the teen's attention by merely sitting next to her.

The thin girl looked at the homunculus up and down before smiling and moving over a bit so as to give both of them more room, "Hi. Lolita Brown. Nice to meet you," she said nervously, holding one hand out in a handshake. Freesia smiled and shook the teen's hand,

"Freesia. It's nice to meet you too. From the looks of you, I take it that you're with Dorchette?"

Lolita looked kind of surprised, "How did you know?"

The homunculus shrugged, "Well, since Greed knows you on a nickname basis and they look comfortable around you, might as well, right?"

"Yeah, I guess..." again, the brunette looked out of the window nervously and Freesia got curious. What was so interesting about the platform asides from the fact that almost all the passengers are already on board?"

"What are you looking at?"

Lolita sighed, "Well, before we got on board, I was just talking to Dorchette and..." the said man cut in before she finished,

"For the last time Lolita, the train will **NOT **be derailed half-way through the journey, there isn't a **BOMB** planted in any of the suitcases and it's **PERFECTLY** **SAFE**.Okay? No need to fuss over things that don't even exist. You being a pessimist at a time like this is probably the last thing we need," Dorchette stressed some of the words in an attempt to calm the pessimist down.

The brunette pouted, "**REALIST, **Dorchette,not **PESSIMIST! **I'm just being cautious. One of these days you'll thank me for that," she crossed her slender arms over her chest and frowned at the dog chimera, who merely chuckled.

"I know. I was just messing with you," he said playfully. He was just about to put his favorite pipe to his lips when Freesias father, whose face was still hidden behind his newspaper, suddenly said,

"No smoking in the compartment. If you want to smoke, get another compartment, please."

Dorchette stared. The look on his face clearly read, 'How did he know?' to all who saw his visage and both Greed and Freesia shrugged simultaneously. They've been hanging around Alice and Llednar too long to know just how strangely psychic these humans can be.

"Hey Lolita,"

The said girl looked at the male homunculus with a somewhat befuddled look, "Sir?"

Greed rolled his eyes skywards and heaved a sigh as the train started moving, "Knock it off, will you? I hate titles. Anyway, once we reach Rush Valley, you're to stick to Dorchette like glue. Besides having you like a pessimist, getting you lost in town is the last damned thing we need," he said lazily. He never was one to stay awake very long on train trips and this definitely wasn't a good time to start staying awake. He looked groggy already and Freesia was experiencing the exact same thing. Great. Not only was she not going o know her new friend better, she won't be able to see the sights! What a trip...

Lolita however, nodded in agreement to Greed's order and was going to try and start a conversation with Freesia when the female homunculus stood up and said, "See you guys later... I'm gonna go and get some shut-eye next door."

If Lolita was a cat, everyone could have seen her ears droop. Noticing this, Freesia called over her shoulder, "You coming, Lolita? I'm sure mom doesn't mind the extra company."

The teenager smiled and stood up, following the homunculus out but paused at the door to tell the men that she'd be right back before joining Freesia and her mother in the next compartment.

Before long, she was introduced to Alice as Freesia's new friend and within ten minutes, the three girls were acting like they knew each other for years. As the journey progressed, Freesia finally fell asleep and what she saw in her slumber was not something many would like to see.

She saw... Dante.

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**Err... Okay, I'm guessing you all weren't expecting the last bit:) I added that last bit because what happens with Dante in a few more chapters to come is a challenge from a classmate of mine who's also a huge fan of FMA. (He's a Sloth fan...)**

**So anyway, again, I'm sorry for the late update because I my mobile phone (which doubles as a modem) account was locked because I tried to guess a recharge card number too many times and I had to get it unlocked. :P**

**Pathetic, isn't it?**

**Alright, this is all I have for chapter 18, I hope everyone likes it because I'm hoping I could get some action done in chapter 19. :)**

**Ciao!**


	19. Heart of Stone

The 8th Sin

-Heart of Stone-

Hoyo! I'm back with chapter 19! Not another word about exams because I don't want to see another exam paper until August. :S I'll be having my qualifying exams then and again, I'll probably be lagging uploading-wise. Sorry for the inconvenience!

But on the other hand, hopefully I'll be able to finish this fic before August. That is, if I type as if I'm on steroids before July! -.-;; No worries here though. I can do that. O.O

Here's chapter 19 before I start rambling again!

Please R 'n' R!

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_**-ONE WEEK LATER, RUSH VALLEY-**_

So far, their stay in Rush Valley had been wonderful, but it's been a good two days since Llednar broke the news that his friend was going to be a few days late. That didn't bother Freesia much. After all, this was supposed to be a vacation. Usually, she'd be exploring the town. Indulging in her curiosity but for the past few days, she hasn't been in the mood for anything.

Dorchette and Lolita had tried to talk to her, but nothing worked. Alice had even tried to take her out for a spot of shopping, but the homunculus declined her offer and even Greed's invitation to just take a stroll around town wouldn't make her budge. All that she seemed to do all day was sit at the balcony, watching everyone walk around, either busily or leisurely. It looked like she was moping over something. What it was that she was moping over, none of them knew. She wouldn't say. All that she would tell them was that she wasn't feeling very adventurous or that she was just tired.

Coming out of her, that was strange. After all, she had eaten more than she usually did, slept more than she was accustomed to and yet she looked somewhat unwell. Greed came into the room, joining her at the balcony and draped an arm over her shoulders casually,

"It's been three days Freesia. This isn't like you at all. Are you sure you're fine?"

The smaller-framed homunculus shook her head, "I don't know... something just doesn't feel right..."

"...You wanna talk about it?"

She shrugged, "Maybe it's the weather... Just this morning I woke up with a wolf's head, a monkey's arm, carbon-hardened right leg, wet the covers when my remaining leg turned to water, had my remaining hand's fingernails shred my covers and was on the verge of eating my pillow. Sounds alright to you?" she quirked an eyebrow at her companion, who chuckled at the combination.

"Not at all. Look, if something's bothering you, just talk it out. At least we won't have to ask you what the matter is every time we see you sitting at the balcony."

She sighed, "...As I said, I don't know what's wrong with me... You do remember about the weird dream I had in the train before we reached Rush Valley, right?"

Greed blinked, "You dream?"

Now it was Freesia's turn to blink, "Didn't I tell you?"

"No."

"...That's odd. I thought I told you... Well, anyway, I saw my mother in that dream. She never really liked me, in spite of the fact that I was her only child. In that dream, I saw her put someone in the middle of an alchemic circle. I don't know if this applies to all alchemists, but instead of the usual blue flash of light I always see when my father or mother alchemizes something, it was... red. There was this blinding flash of red and when I could see again, my mother vanished and instead, I saw..." she trailed off and put her head in her hands, unable to recall what it was that she had seen, "...What did I see...?" she muttered to herself, racking her brains in search of that shred of memory but nothing came to mind.

Greed patted her on the head, "Hey, don't hurt yourself. Staying in a small room for too long does things to you, so why don't you go out and take a walk? You'll feel better," he said suggestively and made to leave when Freesia's lithe hands gripped his wrist, preventing him from leaving. He looked over his shoulder at her.

Freesia had her head bowed as she sat in a chair that she'd dragged out to the balcony, looking as if she was crying. The absence of falling tears made Greed cross the thought off his mental list and that was when Freesia asked, "Greed, can homunculi dream at night? When they sleep?"

He fell silent for a moment, "As far as I'm concerned, no."

"Have you ever activated your shield unconsciously? Have you ever woken up from a nap with parts of your body carbon-hardened?"

"...No."

The feminine hands around his wrist now shook slightly, "...One last question."

Greed narrowed his eyes. From the sounds of her, it looked like she just realized something. She looked up at him worriedly and said, "What if I'm losing control over my powers? What if I go back to the way I was? Back to being a monster?" her tone grew more hysterical the more she spoke and obviously, this whole thing was scaring her out of her wits.

"Those are all 'what if' questions. They won't come true if you don't believe them."

"I've started being this way ever since I killed my father, Greed! It's been eating me inside out!"

Both his hands landed on her arms as he held her so their eyes would meet, "Look, I am not an expert when it comes to these things but what I do know is that you're over-reacting. You said something's eating you inside out, put a stop to it then. This," Greed looked at her from head to toe, "Is your body. No one else's. If you can't stop it, no one can, you understand?"

Freesia's gaze dropped to the floor as she nodded slowly. All this worrying was really going to make her age faster... But she was glad Greed was there with her. At least now she felt more relaxed than before he came in. Greed's hands vanished from where they'd touched her and she looked up only to see him jam them in his pockets, "I'm gonna go grab a drink or two. ...You coming?" he asked, looking away.

She looked at him, blinking in disbelief. Was he blushing? Well, no one could blame him. Girls may be attracted to him like ants are to sugar, but he just wasn't the type to be asking girls out. He was more of the kind to have girls come to him and this made him look adorable.

Freesia smiled, "Sure."

Her heart skipped a beat when he leant in for a quick kiss. He grinned when he pulled away and saw the look on her face, "Meet you downstairs in five minutes," he made his way to the door and opened it, only to have Dorchette and Lolita tumble in. They appeared to be in the middle of an eavesdropping project...

Lolita looked up at her boss and laughed nervously, "Uh... Hi? Ehehehe..."

The tall homunculus looked at the inseparable duo quizzically, "Mind explaining yourselves?"

"Well, we were... uh..." before Lolita could blow their cover; Dorchette sat up and clamped a hand over her mouth, a smart reply just on the tip of his tongue,

"Leaving! We were just leaving and we... got the wrong door, right?" he looked at Lolita, his façade pleading her to play along and thankfully, the nervous wreck nodded in agreement.

Greed smirked, "Uh-huh..." he wasn't buying it.

Dorchette gulped, "Well, uh... Bye!" with that said, the dog and his companion vanished from sight within 2 seconds of finishing his sentence. Greed chuckled as the duo scuttled off and turned around to look at Freesia. She was still at the balcony, taking in the sights and enjoying the rare cool gust of wind. As he recalled what she had told him, he couldn't help but feel concerned. Though Freesia was a homunculus, she seemed to have retained more of her human properties than the other homunculi and this makes her mentality more fragile.

The worst thing that could happen to her now was probably another traumatic experience. Greed had no idea what would happen should she break down again, but he swore he wouldn't let it happen. She's suffered enough. Turning on his heels, the homunculus casually walked out, closing the door behind him.

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_**-AQUOYA-**_

A woman in her mid-forties strode across her study to a large bookshelf, one of which looked like you can't pull a book out without having the whole cabinet fall on top of you and was flipping through a particularly aged one at top speed. She actually jumped when her doorbell rang and dropped the book, at the same time forgetting whatever it was that she was supposed to be doing. Mumbling under her breath and tidying up what she could of her bedroom-cum-library, she then proceeded downstairs to open the door.

She didn't open the door completely though, she only allowed enough space for her to peek outside, "Yes? May I help you?" the woman asked politely as she looked at the group of three on her doorstep.

The tallest of the three, who had long, jet-black hair tied back in a low ponytail and was looking at a piece of parchment in his hands spoke up, "Kayla Sheridan, I presume?"

The gap from which the woman was peeking through narrowed ever so slightly in suspicion, "...I have no business with you," she snapped as she got ready to close the door again but before she could do so, the raven-haired man with the red jacket almost reflexively put his foot in between the door and the doorframe. He hissed from the force of the door on his foot but quickly regained his composure and said,

"You may not have any business with us, but we have business with you. Now if you don't mind, don't jump to conclusions yet and we'll explain if you let us in."

"Give me three very good reasons why I should!"

The fair-haired young lady next to the man in red then said through gritted teeth, "Zolf, are you sure we're even in the right place? Asking drunkards in a bar for directions to an alchemist's house is the last thing I'd ever do!"

Zolf, as the man was called, hissed at her, "Tessa just let me do this my way. First off, I had to deal with John around last week, then I had to clear off my debts with you and now we're dealing with an old woman who's as stubborn as a mule!"

**_THWACK!_**

A rolling pin came out of nowhere and came in contact with Kimbley's head, "How rude! I'm only 45! I'm not nearly as old as you think!"

If Kimbley wasn't such a short-tempered person, he could be crying right now from the slowly forming bump on his head. Looking over his shoulder at his companions, he said, "What is this, some sort of a 'Come-on, let's-torture-Kimbley' week?"

Before things got any worse than it already was, John decided to take things into his own hands, "Mrs. Sheridan, I'm the one who wanted to speak to you. These two over here merely tagged along."

The dark gray-haired woman eyed her three strange guests but after a bit of thinking, decided to let them in, relieving Kimbley's foot of pain.

When they stepped inside, the first impression they got about the place was that it looked like a tornado just came in and out of the room in no less than an hour. The whole place was a mess! Was this what people do when they got too much time on their hands?

Mrs. Sheridan came out of the kitchen not very long after they got settled down with a tray that consisted of tea for four people and some biscuits, "I hope you don't mind the mess that I've made... I'm simply too busy researching to do anything else right now," she placed the tray down on the table with a sigh and served the drinks to her guests. As they sat drinking in a somewhat awkward silence, Teresa noticed that the bespectacled, aged woman had heavy eye bags under her eyes. Her eyes itself were bloodshot, as if she hadn't been sleeping for at least a week or so and she looked kind of unhealthy.

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but rumors have it that you're able to create a complete Philosopher's Stone?" Teresa set her cup down in its saucer and looked at the tired host.

Her lips curled up into a smile, "My, my, wherever do you get your information?"

Teresa returned the smile, "I have my sources. So, it's true then?"

Kayla nodded, "As a matter of fact, it is."

"Then can you give it to me?" John asked rather suddenly, making the older woman look at him oddly.

"Whatever would you want it for?"

"I have my own reasons and I most certainly will not breathe a word of it while these two are here," he motioned to the half-siblings.

Kayla crossed her thin arms over her chest, "Hm... Well then, John, wasn't it? You did say that you were the one who had business to talk to me with. Will you join me in the kitchen, please?" the host stood up and looked at Teresa and Kimbley, "I'm very sorry for being unable to entertain you for the time being. As an apology, you may explore the household, if you wish. Make yourselves at home. Now John, if you'll come this way," the frail-looking aged woman scuttled out of the living room and John made to follow her when Teresa grabbed his wrist,

"I don't know about you but that old woman makes me feel uneasy. Be on your guard."

John nodded and Kimbley chimed in, "Or if you need help, just give us a holler and we'll have a little firework display smack in the middle of the kitchen in no time flat," this earned Kimbley a sharp nudge in the ribs, courtesy of Teresa which left him doubling over in pain in his seat.

In the kitchen, John and Kayla sat across each other on a small table near a window, a basket containing a few colored balls of yarn and a pair of knitting needles sitting in the centre of the table, "It seems that you're very interested in the Stone. May I ask why? Your two friends aren't here to hear us," she took the two knitting needles in her frail-looking hands and started knitting something out of a yellow ball of yarn.

John sighed, looking out at the small garden that the old woman seemed to have long abandoned, "I just want to take back what originally belonged to me."

"Someone important to you?" Kayla asked, her eyes never leaving the needles she was holding. For a while, all they could hear in the room was the annoying 'click-click' of the knitting needles in Kayla's grasp.

"...Yes," John finally said, "My younger sister."

Kayla nodded sympathetically, "I see... I'm sorry to disappoint, John, but I'm afraid I can't give you the Stone that I have in my possession."

John's heart felt like it just fell to the soles of his boots, "Why not? You know how to make it; can't you just make me another one?"

"John, it isn't nearly as simple as knitting. Creating a Philosopher's Stone can turn someone into a killer, I'll have you know," she said tiredly, her state at that time making her look older than she should be.

"Teresa said that to me before, but I don't understand! What's so difficult about making the Stone?"

The old woman stopped knitting long enough to look at John in the eye. Silence hung in between them before Kayla set her knitting needles down, sighed and leant back in her chair, "You really don't know, do you?"

John frowned, "Know what?"

His companion giggled, "One of the items needed to make the Stone... is a live, human being."

Time seemed to have stopped the moment Kayla finished her sentence. John stared at her in disbelief as she resumed knitting and continued, "Not only that, but to complete the Stone, more than just one life is needed... Hundreds, maybe thousands are needed, just to make one Philosopher's Stone that still retains its strength after more than ten uses. I've stopped making them the traditional way a long time ago and now; I'm still finding an alternate way on how to make them without killing."

"...And? Have you succeeded?"

Kayla smiled sadly and shook her head, "No, not yet..." Silence hung in between them for a second time before Kayla fished for something in her pocket and produced a small glass bottle with a crimson liquid inside of it. She placed it on the table and said, "Do you still wish to have this thing?"

The Storm Front Alchemist looked at the bottle, and then at Kayla, "How did you manage to collect enough lives to create this, anyway?"

"Oh, it wasn't easy... My husband and I have worked on this for most of our lives. But on the day we finally got everything we needed, we didn't know that the people in the laboratory were part of the ingredients needed..." her knitting slowed down as she stared at the bottle and rubbed her temples, "You can say this was made through a freak accident... My husband is now part of this Stone," she then picked the bottle up and pocketed it again, tears forming in her eyes.

"If you know it brings back bad memories, why are you still working on this?"

The old woman shrugged, "It's the only thing I can do to continue being an alchemist. Other than this, I can't think of anything else to do for a living. So, in conclusion to your request, I'm sorry, I can't give you the Stone. Perhaps Dr. Marcoh, an acquaintance of mine can help you somewhat. We used to be working on the same thing."

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The trio was on the streets again an hour after they stayed in Kayla's house, leaving John feeling a little confused. Would it be worth it to risk so many lives just to get a shot at getting his sister back? Returning her to her former self? Kimbley was observing the younger alchemist from behind and walked alongside him, patting him on the back.

John frowned, "You didn't clap your hands together before you did that, did you?"

"I'm feeling pretty nice today. Besides, you look down. Cheer up! Now that we know part of what we need to make the Stone, you just look out for the array, Tessa can get the other ingredients and you can just let me do the bombing. Simple, isn't it?" the older man said bluntly, jamming his hands into his pockets and looking around town, "Aquoya's a nice place. Since we're here, might as well take a vacation before heading off for the old man Marcoh."

Sky-blue eyes followed the raven-haired mad bomber as he walked past and went on trying to annoy Teresa instead. Sighing, Jonathan pulled out his locket from inside his shirt and opened it to look at Mia's picture. He didn't like the idea of making the Stone, but he sure wanted Mia back. Now, all he has to do is decide whether he just finds someone with a Philosopher's Stone and talk the person into giving him the Stone or he makes it himself. The latter didn't sound too inviting though... As he was walking, he decided to just think about it later and was going to put the locket back from whence it came when the chain snapped.

The locket fell to the ground and bounced off the pavement, onto the road, where cars zoomed past. Whether something ran it over already or otherwise, John panicked. That locket was the only memento of Mia he had in his possession and it was something very precious to him. He didn't bother waiting for the traffic to cease and ran to retrieve it.

A loud honk, the sound of a skidding vehicle and an even louder crash caught Kimbley's and Teresa's attentions. They turned around, and what Teresa saw could have given her a heart attack.

"**_JOHN!"_**

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_**-CENTRAL, EXHALL RESIDENCE-**_

****Melody opened her front door with difficulty as she had her hands full with paperwork that she'd left unattended through her previous stay in Dublith over a week ago and she was paying for it. She did ask Havoc to tell the person in charge of their leaves that she'd be having the week off, but as her luck would have it, he forgot. Her long hair, which she had tied up in a bun, now had strands sticking out in various directions, making her look as if she just got sucked into a vacuum cleaner and spat back out.

"Marcus, I'm home! Now help me get these groceries!" she managed to grab some food from a nearby store and within a short time, she finally got everything settled down. After dinner, she got straight to work and left Marcus playing with a friendly stray dog outside, deciding that it wouldn't do her any good to tell Marcus to come in. It may be 6.45 p.m., but the little goblin wouldn't come in even if you tried luring him in with his favorite food. He's a clever little boy, he knows himself.

Melody looked outside for the umpteenth time for God knows what reason. She'd had that habit ever since Envy disappeared from her side when they got back to Central. If John or Rin were here, she could imagine them telling her that she looked like a mother who just lost her baby. Speaking of which, those two haven't been around. There hasn't been any news on them. Not even a word.

Come to think of it, Teresa, the florist whose shop Melody often visited and a man who everyone said was with frank Archer disappeared along with John. Well, since three's a crowd, Melody wasn't very worried about him. What worried her now was that Rin escaped from the hospital! What was that man thinking! What a bird-brain... ...Hey, wait a minute. Wasn't that what Envy said?

Ah, yes. Envy. The homunculus who disappeared right after they got off the train! The one whom she could safely say ditched her. And just when she was starting to like him. She sighed. Oh well, she never did have much luck with guys. It was official when Rin dumped her, but for some reason, Melody decided to hang onto Envy a little longer. He may be a homunculus, but she had a feeling she'd see him again pretty soon.

Her eyes moved towards the envelope Havoc had kindly given her earlier that day. He said he needed her help with the thing he had written in the letter, since she once did medicine besides being an alchemist. Now what was so important...?

She ripped the envelope open and skimmed through it. The letter contained an account of the raid in Dublith that had happened over a week ago and when she finished reading the whole thing, it mentioned something about helping the Elric brothers. Now, what would those two troublemakers need from her? Plus, the note at the bottom sort of made her skin crawl. It read;

_"P/S: You don't mind taking a snake along, do you Melody? Nothing to worry about, she doesn't eat people and she just needs some fresh air. Thanks."_

Melody set the letter down and rubbed her temples. Homunculi, Rin and John's disappearances, the Elric brothers and now she's to look after a snake? What could be worse than this...?

"Marcus, come inside this instant before I make you sleep in a kennel!"

...That.

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I'm really sorry that this chapter's short... I had nothing else in mind that could lengthen this and yet is capable of keeping the suspense.

**WEATHER FORECAST FOR CHAPTER 20:**

_More suspense expected through the day, it may get a little foggy so prepare some flashlights in case it gets TOO foggy._

_A little action is expected from Rush Valley, but is not very clear from what the weather station is getting. May not last very long, but there is a possibility that dark clouds will still roam the skies._

_At the same time, news has it that the skies are quite clear around Aquoya; there may even be some sunshine there. Drizzles are possible, but are negligible. _

_In Central, A bit of thunder and lightning, but no rain predicted. If you live near a forested area, be sure to lock your doors and windows. Rumors have it that snakes now have a tendency to take cover in your homes._

**NEWS FLASH:**

_Up till today, there is no news of Aizawa Rin, who has been found missing since last week. Some people have speculated that this winged man has perished. Majority do not believe these rumors and editorial team from the TyrantFlame household will further investigate this strange occurrence._

_In the meantime, TyrantFlame is also said to have been experiencing difficulties recovering her lost Chrono Cross game, which had once belonged to the authoress of 'The 2nd Perfect Soldier' in the Gundam Wing/AC category. Rumors have it that TyrantFlame may be facing either the scaffoldings OR the guillotine if the game is not recovered._

_The authoress TyrantFlame had recently been having nightmares that flames may raid her hotmail inbox. Experts say that she is only being paranoid and is now being fed sleeping pills or in cases of ineffectiveness, has been rendered unconscious to induce sleep._

_At the same time, exams have already ended and TyrantFlame is temporarily suffering from a nervous attack. My sources has seen this teenage authoress talking to her Reno(Final Fantasy 7) and Axel(Kingdom Hearts) plushies in a corner in her room, wondering if she'll get through her exams fine._

_This is TyrantFlame's house muse Shiryu speaking, may you enjoy this chapter, await the new one and I wish you a very good day._

_Please Read and Review._


	20. Remember the Name

The 8th Sin

-Remember the Name-

Okay, here we are, celebrating the 20th chapter and not even half-way through the story! Gah! I have GOT to do something about all these requests my school's FMA fan club just shoved at me! Oh well, we'll just go with the flow.

I hope everyone's got no objections to my new weather forecast feature. I just had it in mind a few days before the chapter was uploaded and it could keep people guessing while I type up the next chap. :P

Alright, I've got a thing for rambling so I'd better stop myself before I go too far.

Please Read and Review!

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_**-AQUOYA HOSPITAL-**_

****Sky-blue eyes fluttered open tiredly as Jonathan Winrain regained consciousness, a blur of black and red within his view. Blinking several times, he wished he hadn't regain consciousness because the first face he could see was that of Zolf J. Kimbley. The said man didn't look very pleased though. As a matter of fact, the Mad Bomber was frowning at him, looking like he just saw something he didn't like.

"Congratulations on your return to the land of the living, sleeping beauty," the Crimson Alchemist said sarcastically as he vanished from sight to sit at the windowsill.

Land of the living? Was he dead or something? John closed his eyes once more and tried to recall what had happened to him. Oh, right. His necklace snapped and his locket rolled onto the road... Then everything was a blur. He slowly raised a hand and touched his forehead, which felt like something just split it in half and noticed that it was bandaged, as were his hands.

He looked over at the unhappy red-clad man. Whatever it was that he was getting all moody over, John didn't bother asking what it was. All he wanted to know now was, "What the hell happened?"

Kimbley, who was occupying himself with the clear skies of Aquoya momentarily tore his gaze from the sight to look at the injured alchemist, "Would you like the explanation to be from my point of view or yours?" came a counter question.

"Whichever grabs you. I just want to know what happened, Kimbley. Is that so much to ask?"

The aforementioned man shrugged, "Depends. You fell behind when we left Kayla Sheridan's house. I have no idea what came over you, but when I left you on your own back then, I found you half- ran over by a car, no less than five minutes when you were by yourself. What the heck were you trying to do, commit suicide?"

John raised an eyebrow, "...Why are YOU, of all people, having kittens over me having a road accident?"

"Hah! Worrying about you would probably be the last thing I'd ever do. The thing that I'm having kittens over is the fact that Teresa risked her ass just to save yours when the car that almost ran you over exploded!" he snarled, "Thanks to you, she's in a coma now."

The younger alchemist appeared unfazed by this, "I didn't ask for her help."

That did it. Kimbley was going to pound John's face into his pillow when a nurse came in. Her eyes widened at what Kimbley was about to do and barely had enough time to call out, "Mr. Kimbley!" there was a loud thump from where Kimbley's fist came in contact with the wall which was the closest to John's bed. John merely looked at the older man, who was breathing a bit heavily from holding back his anger and at the same time from the pain that his hand was experiencing.

His knuckles bled when he removed his hand from the wall. The nurse who just came in pulled out a roll of bandage from a nearby nurse's desk and made to inspect Kimbley's wound. But before she could touch him, he glared at her and growled,

"Don't touch me."

She didn't. Kimbley stormed out, but was still capable of being a gentleman by not slamming the door behind him. The air became still when the Crimson Alchemist disappeared. Thankfully, the nurse was able to regain her composure faster than John could regain his cool. Pushing a lock of her shoulder-length blonde hair behind one ear, she turned around to tend to the patient on the bed.

"Whatever you did or said to him must have made him very angry. Don't you think you should have apologized?" she queried as she carefully inspected John's wounds to see if any of them have gotten any better or otherwise. Throughout her inspection, John couldn't help but stare. Beauty was in the eyes of the beholder and John certainly was looking at one.

She was simply... beautiful. Not too tanned, not too fair, just right. Her skin was almost flawless. Silky, shoulder-length blonde hair was almost guaranteed to feel like 'touching' a gentle breeze and to top it all off, John could see that she had curves all in the right places, even in her nurse uniform.

What caught his attention most was her eyes. They were a deep, ocean blue. And that reminded him of someone he had seen in a photo once before... Someone his father had told him about. What was his name? If his memory wasn't messing around with him, he could have sworn the man's middle name was 'Victor'. Other than that, he couldn't remember much.

"It's rude to stare, you know," her voice was soft, melodious as they reached his ears. He snapped out of his trance, finally realizing that he wasn't staring at her face anymore, but was staring... roughly three inches south. A blush successfully transformed John's face into a tomato as he turned away in a hurry, only managing to give himself a bit of a headache.

The nurse giggled, "Now, this isn't a sight I see everyday. I'll need you to sit up now."

John turned to look at her again and tried to sit up, only feeling a jolt of pain shoot up his left ribcage. He winced and asked, "How bad ARE my injuries...?"

His companion shrugged, "Not too bad, I suppose. A normal person would've died right after being rammed in the side by a car, but you walked away with a fracture or two. Your head got a pretty good knock on the road, better not move it around too much."

With her help, John had finally sat up and once she was done re-bandaging his head, she jot something down on her clipboard and was about to leave when John suddenly called, "Wait!"

She turned around, "Yes? I'm sorry I can't stay long, but I've got a full schedule today..."

John drooped a bit. He was half-wishing she could stay longer but only managed to say, "I... didn't catch your name..."

The pretty blonde leant on the doorframe, giggling, "Aren't you a little young to be hitting on me?"

He smirked, "Who knows, I'm probably old enough to be dating you instead of just hitting on you."

"Nice try, Romeo, but better luck next time," John drooped even more at this. After a short silence, she made to leave but called over her shoulder, "Clara. Hopefully you won't be forgetting it anytime soon," With that, the door closed and she vanished from sight.

The Storm Front Alchemist looked at her leave and smiled to himself, "Clara..." he said to himself, liking how the name sounded on his lips.

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_**-RUSH VALLEY-**_

It was amazing how quickly Freesia had recovered from her depression attack earlier on. She was now laughing and giggling away, Lolita by her side as she dragged the poor girl from one shop to another, not actually caring if she had visited it more than once. If this happened only because she stayed in the bar for half an hour, Greed certainly wouldn't want to see how she turns out should she stay there for as long as he did.

"Oh, look, look! (Hic!) That shop looks cool! Wanna go check it out?"

Lolita was terrified by the fact that the half-drunken homunculus was now acting like she was high on steroids, "Uh..."

"Okay, cool! Let's go!" with a merry laugh, Freesia grabbed a now horrified Lolita towards a small souvenir shop.(Which was a pleasant sight from all those automail shops that littered the place...)

Greed couldn't help but think the sight was amusing. Dorchette, who was walking alongside him, looked kind of worried. Half probably because he never saw Freesia acting that way and the other half because Lolita wasn't very good with hyper people.

"Are you sure it's okay to let her drink?" the dog chimera finally voiced out, looking at the taller man beside him, who was smiling away and trying to stifle a laugh when Freesia draped a rubber snake over Lolita's shoulders and got her screaming like it was the end of the world.

The homunculus shrugged, "I don't know. On my part, yeah, she's hyper. She's good and feeling happy. You don't look too happy to see her that way," he threw a sideways glance to the shorter man, who was nibbling on his fingernails.

"You know Lolita as well as I do! I'm just worried she might... well... Lolita can end up crying if she can't handle any more of this...this... Oh, I don't know, torture, shall we say?" He pulled out his pipe from within his shirt and before he could light it up, Lolita came running to him and immediately started to cry into his shoulder like a five-year old who just got bullied. Dorchette couldn't make heads or tails over whatever it was that Lolita was blubbering about, but what he COULD make out were,

"Dorchette! (Sniffle, sniffle) Freesia... (Mumble, mumble, sniffle, sob) Meanie! (Blubber, mumble) keep away... (Sob) ...Can't take it anymore! (Mumble, mumble, sniff)"

Both men sweat dropped. From where they were standing, they could see Freesia in an automail shop nearby, holding up something that looked disturbingly like an automail face. It wouldn't have been very scary, if only the mechanic didn't make it look like a tiki mask. The said hyper homunculus was giggling and calling Lolita, saying something like she wanted to show the poor nervous wreck some more of those things.

She waved at the men. Dorchette waved back, uncertainly and called out, "No, Freesia. Lolita's had enough. We'll play again tomorrow, okay?" his reason? Freesia was holding up more grotesque automail limbs that looked more fitting on a monster or some deranged mad doctor.

"Make her stop!" Lolita sobbed, acting a little hysterical at the moment. Sighing, Dorchette wrapped an arm around the teen's waist and used his free hand to pat her on the back.

"It's okay, we'll get her to stop REALLY soon," the dog chimera stressed the word with a nudge to his boss and motioning towards the hyperactive homunculus who successfully scared away the kids who were playing in the area.

Greed pouted, "Can't we just let her have her fun? It's not everyday that she gets to do this."

Dorchette rolled his eyes skywards, "Greed, I understand that you're my boss but sometimes, you just forget to draw the line. We let her play any longer than this and we'll probably have to stuff her in a strait jacket just to get her to stop!"

His boss sighed, "Alright, fine... Hey, why don't you go and take Lolly back to the hotel? I don't think she'll like it if Freesia decides to show up around her at this time."

"Right. Let's wait till she calms down," with that, Dorchette went back where they came from, towards the hotel. Greed looked at the duo leave and turned around to face his own problem; Freesia. She was sitting on a bench, feeling a bit lonely because Lolita had left and from where he was standing, it looked like her hyper ness had finally died down a bit.

He was going to approach her, but she beat him to it. She walked up to him, looking a bit sulky and said, "Lolly doesn't wanna play with me..."

A smile played on the corners of Greed's mouth. Reaching out, he ruffled her hair affectionately, "It's getting pretty hot. Not just anyone would play on a hot day. Let's head back to the inn before you get yourself a stroke."

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_**-THE INN-**_

The effects of drinking had worn off by the time they reached their lodgings. Freesia and Greed had just passed by Llednar's room and Freesia was just wondering who he was with. She could tell that there was someone with him and it definitely wasn't her mother.

"Hey Greed, I'll catch you later. I wanna go and see who dad's with," she didn't bother waiting for an answer. All she had to do was touch the door and alchemize her way through it. She had a bit of trouble letting her foot in, though... Once she was in the room, she surprised her old man by just saying, "Hi dad."

"Freesia, would you mind knocking first, THEN you enter?" the older man looked at her in such a way that he was warning her that that was the last time she was going to use her powers to go through things.

The girl laughed and sat on the edge of her father's bad, looking at him with his guest at the table, "Sorry, but I kind of wanted to surprise you anyway."

Llednar's guest looked at Freesia and said, "That your daughter?"

"Yes, she is. Her name's Freesia. Freesia, this is a close friend of mine," he motioned to the gray-haired man with the matching gray cargo pants, who nodded at her.

"Name's August Victor Siren. Pleased to meet you."

"Likewise, Uncle August," Freesia said pleasantly, walking over to shake hands with the man. Looking at the table, she noticed a deck of playing cards next to him with an alchemic circle behind each one, "You're an alchemist?"

August smiled, "Not just any alchemist. I'm a state alchemist. They call me Cardshark. For... obvious reasons..." he said slyly, now looking at Llednar whilst picking up his playing cards. Llednar frowned.

Alice, who so happened to be in the same room and was just lying down on her bed huffed, "Llednar, you know you can't win over August in a card game. Stop gambling before you lose all your money. Besides, it's no good influence for Freesia!"

Freesia looked at her father, "You gamble?"

The aforementioned man twiddled his thumbs, "Well... Not all the time."

"Are you kidding? He once owed me over two grand!" Cardshark added 'helpfully', shuffling the cards with one hand and laughing heartily at the memory. Llednar's face slowly took on a shade of red and before it got worse, Alice piped up,

"August, stop reminding him and please put your cards away. Llednar, didn't you have other things to talk about with him? Oh and Freesia, I'm sorry honey but it's not nice for you to stay and listen. Why don't you and Lolita go out and take a walk?"

"Mom, I just got back from taking a walk."

Alice frowned, "Well, go back to your room and take a nap then. It's not nice to listen into an adult's business."

"Aw, Alice, don't be such a spoil sport! Surely the poor li'l wildcard wants to stick around a bit longer, don't you Freesia?" August cooed, acting like he's dealing with a ten-year old.

Freesia didn't like that, "Well... initially, I did. But I suddenly remembered that I wanted to take Greed..." she trailed off, realizing what she just said.

August raised an eyebrow, "'Greed'?'"

"Uh... I meant Grendel! Yeah, that's it! Ha-ha! Grendel and I wanted to... uh..." Freesia looked around frantically and motioned to something outside the window, "Oh, look at the time! They're waiting for me! Bye!" As quick as a flash, she left the room, leaving the occupants befuddled at her behavior.

She ran through her door, which was actually right next to her parents' room... and immediately flopped down on her bed, "That was close..." she mumbled and suddenly felt nauseous. That was odd... She did eat and drink a lot, but this was the first time she ever felt... sick after doing so. Heck, food poisoning would probably bounce off of her!

Her head spun and her body suddenly felt like it was on fire. Something was wrong, she knew that much but WHAT was it that was wrong, Freesia had no idea. A familiar sizzling sound rang in her ears. Yes, she was changing, altering her form at random. It was painful, taking the form of one creature after another in quick succession. Painful to the point that it was maddening.

Moaning and rolling onto her side, Freesia forced one eye open as she could sense the presence of another being like her. It was another homunculus and even through her blurred vision, she could make out the slim, slender figure of a woman wearing a flowing, black spaghetti-strap dress and long black gloves. Her hair fell over one eye and was neatly tucked behind one ear.

A memory forced its way to the surface of Freesia's already fragile mind and almost immediately, her body started to take the form of water involuntarily. Pain shot through her body as she tried to stop herself from changing, but it was no use. The more she tried to control herself, the stronger was the backlash.

If one's mind could be pictured as glass then Freesia's took the form of one that has been shattered.

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August stood up, hauled Llednar up with one arm and quickly went to the foot of the bed Alice was on. Opening his jacket, cards immediately shot out, forming a spherical barrier around them. His single deck of cards weren't enough, so he alchemized the covers as a substitute. Something large and heavy crashed into the side of the barrier, leaving a good-sized hole where the collision occurred but the shield was strong enough to make the boulder bounce off.

"August, what's happening?" Alice cried, sitting up to try and peek through the hole where August was.

The card shark clicked his tongue, "Why didn't any of you tell me anything about your little girl?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, why didn't you tell me she was a homunculus?" a shriek created a second wave of energy which forced August back, "and a powerful one at that!"

What Llednar and Alice saw through the hole could have made their hearts stop.

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**_-TRAIN TO RUSH VALLEY-_**

Edward Elric was getting bored. These lengthy train trips were definitely getting to him and the fact that he and Al weren't the only ones on board weren't helping. Rin, Melody, Marcus and another cloaked person were in the same compartment and Ed tried his best to conceal his displeasure while Al continued to play with Marcus. He sighed. The fight with Greed before was sending him on his way to visit Winry in Rush Valley and he would have gotten there sooner if not for a wild goose chase that someone had set up so he'd stay in Central. (According to the final note he got, someone named Teresa was doing it to help Mustang keep him in Central...)

"Edward! Are you listening?" Rin said, frowning. The young blonde snapped out of his trance and looked at the winged man.

"Sorry, did you say something?"

The purple-haired alchemist huffed, "I was wondering where you went after the Devil's Nest raid in Dublith."

Edward raised an eyebrow and said, "On a wild goose chase. Someone said they knew where we could find information on the Philosopher's Stone but it turned out that I got tricked by some girl named Teresa. We ended up going all around Central and found out it was Mustang's doing..." the young man growled at the memory and Rin chuckled at the image he saw of the whole situation. That was something he could add to his list; Teresa was a skilled mediator. Not just anyone could fool Edward into a wild goose chase in Central, where he's been most of the time. All the more reason that he didn't trust her OR John, now that he's gone missing...

He looked out of the window. No one's seen John for quite some time now and it's rather disturbing. He came up with nothing and decided to let it rest. He was assigned to keep an eye on the Elrics and now that his formerly broken swords were fixed, he could get rid of his jamadhars. In other words, Rin was fighting fit and he needed a vacation anyway. Plus, Edward was going to have his automail fixed, which could take some time. Guess this was a good time to have a day off, after all. Melody hasn't spoken a word and was especially uncomfortable sitting next to the cloaked person who boarded the train with them.

Now it was Edward's turn to snap Rin out of his trance, "Hey, Rin! Snap out of it!"

Rin looked at the blonde alchemist, "Sorry... I had some things on my mind..."

"...Anyway, I was meaning to ask; you're called 'Seraphic Fury', right? Mind telling me how you got that?"

A smile crept up the pale man's face, "I'm not sure if I can finish that story... besides, I can see Rush Valley's train station from here. We'll save it for later, alright? For now, all I can say is that they call me 'Seraphic' for my wings," Rin stood up, taking his bag down from the compartment above Edward's head and sat back down, his bag on his lap.

Alphonse threw a glance at the cloaked person. His or her hood was covering half of the person's face, so it was almost impossible for him to determine the person's gender. A streak of red was partially covered by the hood and there was a sense of familiarity that Al couldn't shake off. Turning to Melody for an answer, he couldn't help but ask,

"Uhm... Melody-san? Who's the person sitting next to you?" he whispered, since he was sitting next to the red-head. Whispering didn't make much of a difference though. The young man's voice was practically echoing inside him and everyone could hear him clearly.

"Alphonse, it hasn't been that long, hasn't it? It's only been a week!" said a feminine voice from under the hood. If Alphonse was a stone statue, people could have sworn they saw his face crack.

The suit of armor quivered, "Th-That voice...! It can't be!"

"You know her, Al?" Edward asked, throwing a weird look at his younger sibling.

Rin raised an eyebrow and smiled, "Go ahead, put the hood down. That would refresh his memory."

Alphonse fell out of his seat in surprise when the cloaked woman removed her hood. He retreated to a spot near his brother's legs and pointed a shaking finger at the all-too familiar face.

"M-M-M-M-MA-MARTEL-SAN!"

The tanned woman grinned, "Glad to know you haven't forgotten me."

"But...but... how? You..."

"Yeah, I know... I died inside you."

Everyone in the compartment, except for Martel, Rin and Marcus stared at Al as if he grew another head. Before Al passed out (if he was even able to do that!), Rin filled him in, "She barely survived. The sword DID hit its target, which was one of the veins leading to her heart, but thanks to your armor, it sort of moved around a centimeter or two."

"But even so, it should have killed her," Melody chimed in, searching Rin's eyes for an answer.

"True, but have you heard of a technique used in acupuncture? I know it sounds impossible, but it is possible to make someone die momentarily. In this case, it was done purely by luck."

"Talk about being lucky..." Edward commented, looking at the former military woman who was smiling at him.

Suddenly, the train jerked and quaked, the horn blaring above them as the massive vehicle finally stopped with a force that was enough to throw someone from one cabin to the next. Rin opened the window and climbed down from the train in one liquid move wanting to see what had happened without realizing that Edward and Martel were following close behind him, leaving Melody, Marcus and Alphonse calling for them from the window.

Rin skidded to a halt at the head of the train. They weren't very far from Rush Valley at that time, maybe half an hour's walk away from the desert town and already he could see damaged buildings from where he stood. Someone's grunt of pain caught his ear as he looked at the head of the train and found, to his surprise, Greed. The homunculus was in his true form, looking more than tired and the strangest thing was that claw marks were evident on his supposedly impenetrable shield. There were two black diamond lances pinning his shoulders to the hot metal of the train and they certainly didn't look very friendly.

Someone was walking towards him. Or rather, something. He could tell it was a woman from its body shape but otherwise, there weren't any features that were too familiar. Except for the Ouroboros' tattoo on several parts of her body, gleaming a bright crimson.

She had long, silver hair that billowed around her form (think Eris from Sinbad) and the crimson marks on her body made him very sure that she was a homunculus. She probably didn't have anything on, as from what Rin could see; the same black diamond that embedded itself into Greed's body was clinging onto her like a second skin! Come to think of it, it looked kind of similar to Greed's shield...

The black diamond formed a tank top and a pair of trousers for her and at the same time, claws that were three times the size of a normal human's hands complete with thick, beastly legs to stabilize her body.

Rin's hand automatically flew to the sheaths by his side as he drew a pair of swords, one black and the other white. He was ready for battle but for some reasons, there was something about this woman's presence that made his hands shake. Greed had released himself from the lances and had completely regenerated.

"For once, I'm glad to see you," Greed muttered, loud enough for Rin to hear him.

The winged alchemist huffed, "I wasn't here to look for you. I'm here for Freesia. Where is she?"

Greed sighed and sat down, feeling more than a bit exhausted and didn't bother answering Rin's question as the silver-haired homunculus continued to walk towards them at a steady pace, "You bastard, answer me!" Rin growled, now pressing the cold blade of his black sword against Greed's neck.

The tall homunculus' violet eyes looked up at the alchemists' angry blue-green orbs lazily, "Are you sure you wanna know? You can just drop dead once I start talking."

"I want answers, and I want them now."

Greed's lips curled up into a smirk, "Impatient, aren't we?"

Rin fumed, "We don't have time to be playing around, Greed! We don't know what this other homunculus is capable of doing and I don't intend to stay long enough to find out!"

His companion rolled his eyes skywards and stood up, brushing sand off of his trousers and motioning towards the advancing woman, "Well, there's your answer. Happy?"

The winged alchemist's mind went blank momentarily, trying to digest what the homunculus was saying. What was he saying? Rin dared himself to speak and voice out his thoughts and when he did, he kind of wished he didn't, "Are you saying this creature is Freesia?"

Upon the single mention of the name, the silver-haired homunculus lunged towards the duo with such speed, the men only had time to blink before a powerful kick intercepted Greed's side, sending him crashing into Rin and forcing the two down to the ground. By that time, Martel and Edward had finally reached the head of the train and was just in time to see the two of them skid on the sandy ground.

"I am not Freesia... I don't know any Freesia…" she breathed, the unmistakable voice of the girl once named Lilith exuded from the powerful being. The eight Ouroboros marks on her body gleamed, as did the one embedded to the back of Greed's hand.

The aforementioned homunculus hissed slightly at the burning sensation when his mark responded to hers. He was never one to see the dark side of things and even said that nothing was impossible, but he was kind of afraid that he'd found one thing that was impossible.

Rin got to his feet first, his blades still drawn but not pointed at the female homunculus, "Freesia, it's me. Don't you remember me?"

Even from where he stood, he could see a few veins appear along her temples and some bulging on her neck. An expression of pain appeared on her emotionless face as her large claws made their way to either side of her head.

"I AM NOT FREESIA!" she shrieked, forcing them all a few good feet back and amazingly, the train itself moved a few inches back from the force that radiated off of her. Her body shuddered for a moment as she tried to regain her composure. Once in a while, they would hear her grunt in pain and finally, when her headache subsided, she kept her head in between her claws. Her face was once again devoid of emotion as she mumbled, "...I don't know what Freesia is... I am the Ultimate Sin... I have no need of a name..."

It pained Rin to see Freesia acting this way. It was almost sickening. Greed knew how the other man was feeling. He'd tried not to hurt her, but that resulted in him getting flung from the inn all the way out here with one single kick. They had no choice now but to take her down and deep inside, they wished there was some way they could return her to who she was. After all, she was still able to remember the name her adopted parents gave her...

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I have to admit; the ending to this chap's kinda crappy. :P Anyway, I hope this chap's okay. Let's see what I have in store for the next chap. Here's my longest chapter yet and I was inspired by 'Remember the Name' by Fort Minor. :)

**WEATHER FORECAST FOR CHAPTER 21**

_The weather is unsettled due to multiple reasons unbeknownst to us and not much can be revealed. The only clue we have now is that there is a possible storm or hurricane coming our way. If things get worse, a possible blizzard will occur throughout the areas involved in this story._

**NEWS FLASH**

_TyrantFlame is profusely apologizing to her readers for not keeping her promise and now has decided to still update, but please, don't blame her for being that way because she is now confirmed to have hypergraphia(a constant itching to type/write a story) so she will still be uploading, but at an extremely sluggish pace. This is confirmed for now and till the end of the year, this sluggish progress will continue as TyrantFlame's marks didn't turn out as hot as her name... _

_Here is your newsreader Shiryu typing, wishing you a good day and hoping you will wait patiently for the following chapter. Here's wishing reviews still come in. Have a good day. _


	21. Defying Fate

The 8th Sin

-Defying Fate-

This is chapter 21 and for some reason, I was feeling depressed when I first typed this up. Oh well, it is supposed to be angst, right? Might as well keep the feeling in till this story's finished!

I don't feel like ranting for once, so let's get straight to the story!

Please REVIEW!

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Edward stopped when Rin and Greed skidded on the sand. He felt the strong wave of energy, the angry howl of pain. Now that he set eyes on the homunculus who claimed to be the Ultimate Sin, its presence alone rooted the teenage genius to the ground. It felt even worse than the first time he bumped into Scar. It felt as if she could devour his soul from that distance.

Her bright purple, almost crimson eyes shifted to look at him. She squinted a bit, a vein throbbing painfully on her right temple. The short blonde boy was someone she knew, but where? When? How did she meet him? Her claws clenched and unclenched as the throbbing grew stronger but she forced it to stop when her two earlier targets moved. The winged alchemist and the buff homunculus were back on their feet.

"...Who or what is this thing...?" Edward asked to no one in particular, a cold sweat running down the side of his face.

Rin bit his lower lip, "Edward, Remember the girl in Dublith? The one who you bumped into when you sneaked out of the butcher's?"

Edward gulped, "That was all the info I needed," he said firmly, clenching his fists.

A ghost of a smile appeared on the silver-haired homunculus, "Edward Elric... You're one of the causes of my headaches... Will it go away if you all disappear?" her voice was cold, emotionless. He didn't reply and her grin grew wider, making her resemble Envy along the way. She raised her arm, ready to bring it down on whoever she wished to dispose of, but her headache came again. The female homunculus took a step back, bringing her claws down to either side of her head again. A cry of pain ripped itself out of her throat as she fell to her knees.

"WHY!" she cried out, "Why do I know you...! Why do you know me! ...Paintings... A desert town, a rainy day... why do I remember these things!" as she fought to reduce the pain, her Ouroboros tattoos vanished, one by one, until only the mark on her shoulder remained. Rin's eyes widened. Her memories must be forcing her to remember!

He took a step forwards, "Freesia, do you remember how you felt when you saw the paintings on my wall?" he asked, taking another step towards her.

Her breathing was uneven and she frowned when he got too friendly with her, "GO AWAY!" she emitted a wave of energy, but in her weakened state, she could do no more than cause a breeze.

The sting on the back of Greed's hand had subsided, but that wasn't enough to convince him that she was back to normal. It began to sting again shortly after that and he didn't like the looks of it, 'Rin, don't push your luck there...' he thought, grinding his teeth as the sting grew stronger.

By this time, Rin was only a few steps away from her, "Remember when you said I was lonely?"

Images of the event flashed behind her eyelids. She didn't like this at all. These weren't her memories. These weren't her emotions. They belonged to someone else. At least she would like to think of it that way. Her blood boiled as she regained herself slowly. The other seven crimson marks appeared on her body again and Greed took this as a sign for him to make a move.

Freesia raised an arm and Greed found himself thinking that he should stop her. Her claws were fully extended. His shield was fully activated. Physical contact was made and for a moment, blood seemed to fall as rain from the sky. Both homunculi's eyes made contact with one another as Greed's shield once again failed on him. Instead of stopping her claws on his skin, her razor-sharp weapons were now half-way into his body, the shield Greed was proud of cracked in more than one place. Blood, artificial it may be, flowed freely from the horrendous slash wounds that normal people would die from instantly.

His shield vanished and Greed smirked, rather painfully as he tried to endure the pain, "What are you scared about?" It was true. For a moment there, he could clearly see her eyes widen. Her lethal claws shuddered ever so slightly as more images flashed before her eyes. She was confused.

She pulled her claws out of his body, his left arm now nothing more than a chunk of flesh as it hit the ground with an inaudible 'thud'. He wobbled slightly and placed his remaining hand onto whatever was left of his other arm, wincing as he did so.

"…Rain..." she breathed, the image of Dublith imprinting itself in her mind's eye.

"That's right. Rain. It was raining when you told me you were scared of yourself..." Greed said softly, his arm now regenerating slowly. A lone tear rolled down her cheek as she recalled the event. Her claws slowly disappeared and when they vanished, she brought one hand up to touch her lips. Freesia's confused, crimson eyes searched Greed's violet ones for an answer. How did he know so much about her when she barely knew anything about him?

He looked at her knowingly. She looked away, as if trying to make heads and tails out of all this. But, the more she thought about her past experiences, the harder it was to make sure of anything! This was too much. Freesia wanted to just get rid of them, but another part of her was protesting like there was no tomorrow at the idea, plus she was in no condition to fight as soon as Rin and Edward came into the scene. For once, familiarity was a bad thing.

Her heart skipped a beat when Rin tried to get closer to her. She took a step back cautiously, her left arm forming a pole arm. More people were coming out of the train now and for some reason, this made her smile. A good familiar feeling washed over her as she looked at the many people pouring out of the large machine. Back to the time she killed people to make the Philosopher's Stone.

She stopped though; not even having the chance to start swinging her deadly weapons when a familiar scent only she could smell reached her. Something close to a Philosopher's Stone was nearby. Everyone stopped and stared at the creature standing at the head of the train and majority started whispering to one another, wondering where she could have come from.

For once, Freesia didn't react when all the noise got to her. She was too busy looking for the source of that sweet smell. The scent of the stone that overflowed with souls... Finally, she found the source. She dashed towards the crowd, where someone cocked a weapon and called,

"STAND BACK!" a single gunshot echoed through the air as Freesia fell back from the impact, a gaping hole visible in the centre of her chest and around the wound, she started turning into stone.

That wasn't enough to stop her though. The homunculus landed on her feet, examined the wound and within the blink of an eye, the wound closed. Her opponent cocked the gun again, daring her to come closer. This excited her. For the first time, someone owns what she likes better than killing and was able to fend her off and keep their lives. With a sly grin, she performed a smooth back-flip and turned herself into a black eagle before flying away with a loud screech.

"Phew... Is everyone alright here?" the gunslinger was a woman. She stepped up to the head of the train and looked at the small group, eyes now widened, "Oh my... aren't you Edward Elric?"

Edward blinked, "Yes, that's me. And you are?"

The 5-footer newcomer smiled and extended her hand, "Eva Collins. Just your everyday alchemist," she said pleasantly. Edward shook her hand as Eva looked around, "What was that thing doing? Was it a chimera?"

Before they could continue, Greed cut them both off, "Hey, I don't mean to be rude, I really do, but the least we can do now is get to town, have a few rounds of drinks and introductions to start us off."

They agreed.

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_**-RUSH VALLEY PUB-**_

Surprisingly, Rush Valley's pub survived Freesia's wrath and since Eva was very interested about this whole thing, they filled her in on it. She nearly choked on her coffee (she claimed that she couldn't live without coffee...) and spluttered, "Homunculi? But... but... aren't they supposed to be... well, IMPOSSIBLE?"

Greed shrugged wryly, as if telling her that he was living proof of the impossible. (which was in fact, the truth.)Eva tapped her chin, "Wow... all this talk's really reeling me in... I bet if I wrote a book on it, people would call me a lunatic," she mused and went back to her coffee, until she saw Marcus fail to build a toothpick house for the umpteenth time.

"That thing is...?" Eva motioned to the little goblin, where his elder sister grabbed the little guy and hugged him defensively,

"This 'thing' is my little brother," Melody frowned disapprovingly at the dark-haired newcomer. She never did like anyone who called Marcus a 'thing' or referred to him as 'it'. Well, she couldn't blame them. When you see something that looks like a goblin, ANYONE would wonder what it was!

Edward then spoke up, "By the way, just now you shot the homunculus, didn't you? What kind of bullet were you using? The outsides of the wound turned her to stone momentarily."

"Hmm... yeah, that," Eva said boredly, taking another sip of her coffee, "I may not be a State Alchemist, but I found a way on how to create artificial Philosopher's Stones. They're not as powerful, but they sure help a bundle around the household."

Edward, Rin, Alphonse, Melody and Greed then asked simultaneously, "A fake Philosopher's Stone? Where'd you get your hands on that?"

Their gunslinger friend blinked in surprise, "Well, I made them, of course. It's pretty hard to get the main ingredient, but the yield's considered pretty good. The quality's not as good as the original, I'd wager, since it breaks once you use it around four to five times."

"Four to five times..." Edward fell back into his seat and started thinking. Rin was doing the same thing, as was Melody and seeing the silence thicken, Eva piped up, "Is this what happens when you become a State Alchemist too long?" she asked Marcus, who attempted to build toothpick houses again. The adorable little goblin just shrugged nonchalantly and continued whatever he was doing. She smiled and pet him on the head a couple of times before standing up,

"Well, it's been nice talking to you guys, it really has, but looks like I gotta run. Let's just hope the train to my hometown isn't rescheduled..." the alchemists didn't reply so, feeling unwanted, Eva left the pub and nearly jumped out of her skin when something clamped down on her shoulder.

She turned around and saw Greed, "Oh, you... What do you want?" she asked, sliding out of his grip easily. She never did feel very comfortable around him and hated to admit that he creeped her out for some reasons even she didn't know what.

Greed didn't say anything at first and looked at the door behind him out of the corners of his eyes, not wanting to be heard by the others inside of the bar, "You said you could make those fake stones, right?" he finally asked, walking towards her and motioning for her to follow him. Eva complied, hesitantly.

"Uh... Yeah, I can. Why?"

"And those bullets you shot back then, I'm guessing they're made out of those stones."

Eva didn't like this one bit, "For the record, yes, they are. Why are you asking?"

Greed's smirk wasn't exactly the most reassuring thing that Eva needed at that moment, "You do know that I'm a homunculus, right?"

Somehow, she knew that already. Eva nodded, "So? What do you want? Get to the point already."

"Okay, fine. Homunculi need those stones to continue living. I ran out on mine just before the homunculus you shot ran away. All I'm asking is for you to make me some that will last me two months or so," he said plainly as they walked down the streets of Rush Valley.

The dark-haired alchemist frowned, "How much are we talking about?"

Greed shrugged and pulled out a small, empty pouch from his pocket, "Just enough to fill this. Think you're up for it?"

She looked at him quizzically, "Why don't you find someone else?"

"I'd rather work with people I know. Plus, we may not have the time to find another person with your knowledge. If we stall any longer, this whole place has a great chance of turning into a ghost town."

Eva didn't really understand so Greed explained further, "That silver-haired homunculus' name is Freesia. She was with me before she became that monster. What you saw just now was barely everything that she has and I have a feeling that once she bares her 'fangs', she can wipe this whole place clean in a few minutes."

"...And you're saying you know how to stop her?"

Another smirk, "More or less. So, do we have a deal or not?"

Greed was holding out the empty pouch to her, waiting for her to take it and Eva, not exactly wanting to go any more than waist-deep into this whole thing thought about it for a minute. Sighing as she drew to a conclusion, she held her hand out and took the pouch from him,

"Where can I give these to you, once I'm done?" Eva asked.

Greed raised his eyebrows, "Whoever said I'm letting you go off by yourself?"

"Huh?"

"I'm going with you."

If Eva wasn't so shocked at that point, she would have pounded Greed's childishly innocent face into the ground with everything she got.

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_**­-AQUOYA HOSPITAL-**_

Kimbley was still fuming over what he and John were talking about. The nerve of that brat! He cursed under his breath, swearing that he'd stuff John's head with gunpowder and blow him up even if Teresa was clinging onto his arms. He smirked and would have laughed at the idea but his chuckle slowly lowered to silence, his smirk turned to a frown as he eyed the life support system Teresa was hooked onto.

Teresa was semi-conscious. Her eyes were open and she was blinking, but it was as if she was in a mental block state. When Kimbley came in, the doctor had told him how she was doing and told him that if she didn't regain consciousness in a week, they would turn off the life support system. Kimbley sighed as he slouched in his seat and rested his elbows on Teresa's bed. He may not have cared what would happen to her or anyone else for that matter, maybe it was because of the fact that they were siblings but one thing was certain; Kimbley felt attached to Teresa, one way or another.

He placed a hand on hers and gave it a little squeeze, almost wishing that she would do the same to him. It was silly of him to feel that way and he certainly did feel stupid to want her to give any signs of life, "...I talked to him just now," Kimbley started, staring straight ahead, outside the single window in the ward. Teresa stared at her ceiling and didn't respond.

Kimbley didn't really know what to say. As a matter of fact, he was wondering why he was talking to a person who could actually be already dead! He sighed and let go of her hands, getting out of his chair and walking to the door with his hands jammed into his pockets. Just as his hand grabbed the doorknob, he stopped in his tracks. Sighing for what seemed to be the umpteenth time; Kimbley's hand slid off the shiny surface of the doorknob and rested his forehead on the door with his eyes closed. Gosh, he was really growing soft!

It didn't take him long to find himself sitting in the chair again with Teresa's still warm hand in his. He told Teresa what he told John, how he felt, what he did and what he wanted to do. It was a sad scene, even for a person like Zolf J. Kimbley. The Mad Bomber, sitting next to his younger half-sister's bed, telling a story so energetically and enthusiastically while his single audience just lay, hovering between life and death, listening to every word he said without a single word to respond to any of his remarks.

At the end of his story, where he told Teresa he'd almost pounded John's head through his pillow, Kimbley trailed off. His left hand, which had been holding Teresa's as if it was a jewel was joined by his other hand, clasping Teresa's between them as he rested his forehead on their entwined fingers.

"...Why did you do it, Tessa...? Why were you ready to jeopardize your own life for him?" he raised his head to look at her, vibrant amber eyes locked with blank green ones, searching for any signs of a reply, if it was even possible. There were none. Kimbley dropped his gaze to the floor, released his half-sibling's hand and leant back in his chair. His shoulders shook as he chuckled, partly because of amusement, partly because of disappointment. Amused because of how he's reacting to merely a woman falling into a coma and disappointed because if he really cared for this woman, he would have done something to prevent this from happening.

But he didn't. He slouched over again and buried his face in his hands. This was maddening, even for him. Kimbley stood up, sighing as he did so and patted Teresa's hand before he left the room for some fresh air. The heavy scent of medicine must be seriously messing around with his system.

Kimbley left the building, deciding that taking a bit of a walk may help him get back to normal and get rid of the negative thoughts that had somehow gotten to him. He looked up at the white building and tried to find Teresa's out of the many windows. Unfortunately, all he saw was John looking out of his window intently, as if he just saw something disturbing.

The red-clad man followed the younger alchemists' gaze, but saw nothing. What was so interesting about rooftops nowadays, anyway? Shrugging, he just let it slide and continued walking down aimlessly down the street, maybe even hoping to stumble across a pub or two along the way.

Too bad for Kimbley, it just wasn't his day. What he saw in front of him made him close his eyes, put one hand on his temple and curse under his breath. The familiar, small figure and the even more familiar tattered cloak and hood were a dead giveaway. Plus, the crazy cackle that was emitted from the person was making feel even more annoyed than he was in John's presence. To add to the list, it saw him.

"KIMBLEY!"

...And clung onto him like a koala would to a tree. The Mad Bomber felt a really strong urge to blow the thing to a zillion tiny pieces. However, he stopped himself and instead, went with plan B,

"Biddo."

"Yes?"

"Off."

"Why?"

"Now."

"Why?"

"Because I won't regret blowing your brains out."

It worked like a charm. The lizard chimera was off of him before he could actually finish his sentence. The word 'blow' was enough to explain what the alchemist had in mind.

"Mind telling me WHY you're everywhere?"

Biddo shrugged nonchalantly, "The Devil's Nest's gone 'bamoosh', so I decided to go 'bamoosh' too."

"...Yeah, right... And it just so happened that you 'bamoosh'-ed to where I would be?"

The lizard cackled again, "Maybe we're meant to be together!" Biddo was going to pounce on Kimbley to commemorate his newfound 'knowledge' but threw the idea down the drain when Kimbley clapped his hands together once.

Biddo wasn't going to live very happily after what happened next...

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Lilith landed in front of an old mansion. She smiled when she set eyes on it, but frowned at the unnatural amount of ivy creeping up the sides of its walls. As a matter of fact, if not for the notable landscapes surrounding the mansion, nothing looked the same at all. She entered the house without even opening the doors; she simply went through it. Once inside, the state of its interiors surprised her.

Dust collected on majority of the furnishings still left behind. The cushions of the sofas and the carpets in the living room bore signs of being eaten by moths but the one thing that didn't change was where everything was placed. They were just as she remembered it.

Lilith dared herself to explore the second floor and that was exactly what she did. She opened the door to a small room and took a look around. That was when she noticed the picture on the bedside table. Though caked with a few layers of dust, she could actually tell what the picture was. A picture of her and her parents. At least, that was what she remembered was in the picture but as to how the people in the picture looked like, it was a blur.

Just as her clawed hands reached out to wipe the dust off of its surface and see the picture hidden behind it, she heard a pair of feet walking towards the room she was in. A woman came in, a smile on her face. It was as if she was expecting Lilith to come, but the homunculus had never set eyes on this odd woman.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" she asked acidly, deciding not to just slice the woman's head off like her instincts were screaming at her to do.

The woman's smile grew a bit wider, "Why Lilith, don't you remember me?" she asked and took a few more step forwards. She only stopped when the floor started to quake from the energy Lilith threatened to release.

"I dare you to take one more step," she said in the same, sharp tone. The woman didn't do it but instead sighed and leaned against the wall,

"Pity... You don't even remember your own mother..."

Lilith's eyes widened slightly. Flashes of a younger version of herself being cradled in a man's arms appeared before her eyes. Her eyebrows furrowed. This just had to be another one of her 'hallucinations', "I have no mother," she spat.

The human of the two looked at the homunculus languidly, "My goodness, what have you been doing to the point of forgetting even me? I'm your mother, Dante."

At the mention of the name, more images flashed before the homunculus' eyes. In a sense, the woman was telling the truth. She reeked of perfume, the tone of her voice whenever she mentioned her name, the facial expressions... They were just like how they used to be before Lilith started forgetting.

The tremor subsided and Dante's smile grew wider. If she could control Lilith like she once did, then accomplishing what she had wanted all this time would be no problem. She held out one hand to her daughter, "Come Lilith. Our home is not here anymore."

Lilith made no indications of following her. The homunculus' eyes shifted to where the photo was and she once again reached for it. Dante stopped her however, by approaching her and putting one hand over her claw, "That wouldn't be necessary..." the woman cooed and the only reply she got was the flash of Lilith's Ouroboros marks and a sharp glare,

"Let go of me."

Dante backed off. Now wasn't a very good time to set her off again, "We don't have much time dear, we have to go soon."

"Give me ten good reasons why I should. If you really were my mother, why would you stop me from taking one look into something that would have proven what you were to me? Were you afraid that I may find out the truth?"

"...Lilith, I..."

"My mother never had short hair. She never had dark eyes."

Dante stiffened, "My mother had long, copper hair and sky blue eyes. She was taller than you. She never liked me. You on the other hand, are exactly the opposite of that. Why?" Lilith pressed on, her gaze seemingly piercing through Dante. A smile crept up the homunculus' features. She didn't need an answer from the woman. Going into a stance, Lilith lunged at Dante and swung her claw at the woman, only to be stopped in mid-air.

An invisible force was stopping her and she frowned when she noticed the other homunculus standing at the doorway. She nimbly broke free of her bonds and looked up just in time to get kicked in the face. Even for a very powerful homunculus, she didn't expect the assault. Skidding to a halt, she got back to her feet and once again attacked with her claws. The homunculus wielded a blood-red sword and surprisingly, it stopped her advance.

A very familiar scent reached her and Lilith's eyes widened. Then she narrowed them, "...No... This isn't the Stone..." she muttered, "Something close to the Stone..." feeling a bit disappointed, she jumped over the man's head just as he was going to stab her. He spun around to attack her again but she just stayed where she was. She took the blow.

The sound of ringing metal echoed through the room as the sword stopped on her diamond-like skin. Lilith glared at Dante, "There were only supposed to be eight of us, including me. How many more have you created?"

Dante shrugged, "He wasn't exactly my doing. So, will you come home with me?"

"I am home," Lilith shot back, "Just leave me alone," she left the room and went downstairs. For some reason, she felt pain again. Almost like the time when she saw those familiar people in Rush Valley. She held her head, moaning and bumped into an old piano near the stairs. When she looked at it, she saw a glimpse of the child she once was; small-framed, pale, and pint-sized with shoulder-length copper-colored hair held back with a hair band and large, honey-brown eyes.

"Where are you going, Lilith?" Dante asked from the top of the stairs, addressing the homunculus as if she were a child.

Lilith fell to her knees, trying to block out the visions. They were hurting her! For a moment, she wondered why exactly was she there, who she was, where she really belonged. Her body shifted again as she gave up fighting and within a few seconds, where the female homunculus was, sat a small girl who looked to be around four or five. She donned a black, almost gothic-style dress, fit for a funeral, a pair of white socks and matching black shoes.

Dante smiled when the little girl looked up at her. She had shoulder-length silver hair, large, crimson-purple eyes and had her hair held back with a black hair band, "Mother? Why is the house so dirty and quiet? Where's father?"

The homunculus behind Dante frowned and was going to say something but Dante silenced him and went down the stairs, "Father's off working, my dear daughter, Lilith. This house is dirty because we don't live here anymore. Come, I'll take you where our new home is," she simply picked the little girl up and walked out the door, "What was your name again? Blade, was it? Close the door when you leave," The woman said firmly and when she turned to walk away, Blade couldn't help but feel that the little girl's gaze was intimidating.

How could Dante be so calm about bringing that little monster with them? He shrugged it off as he simply went out, closing the door as he did so. Right now, the only important thing to him was to hunt Jonathan Winrain down...

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HWEEL! CHAPER 21 FINISHED!

I was listening to 'Liberi Fatali' from Final Fantasy 8 when I finished the last parts up. I really hope you all like how this story's turning out. :) Nothing much to ramble about but I may not be uploading till September. (Shrug) QUOTE: MAY NOT BE.

That's all from me!

**WEATER FORECAST FOR CHAPTER 22**

_Unsettled weather growing more persistent but there may be some sunshine along the way. Get your umbrellas ready, just in case. A bit of a hurricane is occurring around the provinces of the authoress' house..._

**NEWS FLASH**

_Now a 17-year old, authoress TyrantFlame is facing off against persistent tests and exams and may not have time to continue writing till September, according to source. The aspiring writer was said to be suffering from persistent headaches induced by Mathematics, home works and more home works, with writer's block following very close behind._

_The authoress is currently working very hard to please her parents (by getting excellent grades) and her loyal readers (who are also very dear friends to her) by writing more as soon as possible. However, transmission is not so clear so the news may not be very accurate. We apologize for the inconvenience._

_Authoress TyrantFlame also wishes all her readers a very good day and wishes to not see any pink bunnies and instead would like more readers to leave reviews after reading._

The final chess piece has entered the game. The time for the middle game is now, and the time for the curtains of the end game to fall, draws nearer still...


	22. Black Butterfly

The 8th Sin

-Black Butterfly-

Hi everyone!! I'M BACK!!! Without further ado, I'll just start coz I got nothing to ramble about.

Don't forget to read and review!

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_**-DANTE'S MANSION, UNDERGROUND-**_

Lilith sat in the centre of her new room, her eyes fixed on the view outside of her window. The view was plain, but something about it drew her to it. Someone came into her room and she only needed to turn her head slightly to know who it was, "Envy, right?"

The palm tree look-alike nodded, "So, you're the one Dante told me about."

Lilith giggled, "Call me Lilith. You're here to baby-sit me, aren't you? Mother's always busy so I don't have anyone to play with her. Will you be my playmate?" she turned around and looked at Envy in the eyes, the Ouroboros in her left eye gleaming menacingly.

Envy sighed and sat down, "Sure. I haven't got anything better to do anyway. What do you want to do?" He raised an eyebrow when the pint-sized little girl pointed outside of her window.

"I want to play outside. Someone has something that belongs to me," she said, her tone as sweet and child-like as how she was before she became a homunculus. However, there was something about her current state of mind that made Envy think otherwise. She didn't appear to have remembered much about her homunculus self, but her actions spoke for her.

"Well? Are we going?" she asked. Envy looked at the window, which had been locked and before he entered the room, Dante had warned him not to let her out.

He chuckled and shook his head, "Sorry, kiddo. No can do. We'll just have to play indoors."

"Is it because the window is locked?" Lilith walked over to the window and placed her small hands on the wall under the windowsill. She placed her forehead on the cold concrete structure and closed her eyes while Envy went and picked up one of the neglected toys on the floor so he could start trying to entertain the little girl.

His head snapped up when she ran up to him and grabbed his hand. Her body felt cold, unlike the warmness of a living person. He looked down at her smiling face as she announced, "It's open now. Can we go?" she pointed to the window and when Envy shifted his gaze to where she was pointing, all he saw was a gaping hole in the wall, large enough to allow five Gluttonies of the same size and shape out of the very same hole walking side by side.

The most surprising thing was how she was able to make such a massive hole in almost a heartbeat and without a single sound. Not even a crack was heard! He looked at the small homunculus again, but all she did to serve as an explanation of her actions was smile.

"Let's go and play!" she said gleefully and without much effort, she had successfully dragged Envy out of the hole and towards the surface, moving as if she knew the place like the back of her hand. Somewhere out there she knows that someone she's currently looking for is not very far, but very elusive at the same time. She giggled to herself as she pictured the person in her mind, "An Ishvarite..."

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_**-COLLINS' RESIDENCE, THE FOLLOWING DAY-**_

Eva felt like knocking her head on her table. From where she was sitting, Greed was acting as if he'd owned the place even though he'd only set foot in the house for about half an hour, Dorchette was picking a fight with her pet cat for no apparent reason (dog intuitions? Possible.) And Lolita was trying, but failing to keep them both out of trouble and this ended up stressing Eva out.

"**WOULD YOU THREE KEEP IT DOWN? I CAN'T WORK LIKE THIS SO EITHER YOU SHUT UP AND BEHAVE YOURSELVES OR GO AND COUNT THE GRASS ON MY LAWN!**" Eva had already dragged the trio out with somewhat superhuman strength and had slammed the door behind them, fuming all the way to her room.

Lolita exchanged looks with the two men beside her, "Something tells me we did something we shouldn't have..."

Dorchette pouted, "It wasn't my fault if the cat wouldn't quit staring at me!"

The only homunculus of the three sighed, scratching the back of his head and leaning against the closed door, "No kidding. So, who wants to go and apologize for making it look like you own this place?"

The dog chimera and the teenage girl narrowed their eyes at the tall artificial human and wondered why in the world they call him 'boss' in the first place. Greed noticed this and blinked in what could have been a cute manner if the situation wasn't so serious and said, "What?"

The trio spent the day outside, Eva still unwilling to allow them in due to the high risk of her house being turned completely upside-down. Lolita had gone looking for a four-leafed clover in the tall grass (they went up to her waist! What kind of a lawn is this?), Dorchette was reduced to counting how many people had passed by while Greed just made a record 100 turns around the house, driven simply by boredom. If he paced around the house more, there would be a pit deep enough to make a moat around the little two-storey house...

Lolita re-surfaced for the umpteenth time from the tall grass and held up what could have been a weed, but she kept on insisting on calling it a clover. Dorchette sighed and tore his gaze from the hundredth or so passerby to look at Lolita's so-called 'clover',

"No, Lolita. It's barely got any leaves," the chimera went back to counting and realized he'd just lost count, forcing him to start over from one.

The teenage girl pouted, "This is ridiculous! It's gotta be here somewhere!" Her arms pin-wheeled around in a comical manner and Greed, who was deep in thought and approaching the teenager from behind, got a pretty nasty bop on the chin. As the assault surprised him, the homunculus actually lost his balance and fell over. Lolita gasped, turning pale when she realized what she had done and 'dived' into the tall grass just to apologize.

Greed just lay down on the ground; finally able to rest his legs (can homunculi even feel tired?) and stared at the sky, which began taking on an orange tint while Lolita said something to him that he wasn't paying much attention to. Through all that pacing, he'd been thinking quite a lot. One of the items of his ponderings was whether or not the plan he had in mind to get Freesia back was going to work. Now that he thought about it, he HAS seen her before. And that was a long time ago. He closed his eyes for a moment, not realizing that his action made Lolita panic and shriek something about unintentionally killing him.

'...No wonder the hair and the black diamond claws looked familiar...' he said to himself, recalling one of the past events where he'd look out of the window and see a pair of blank, purplish-crimson eyes staring back at him, the owner of those pretty eyes merely sitting in a wheelchair like a rag doll. Her silver hair billowed around her in the breeze and parts of her claws showed from under the shawl that she donned.

However, back then, she didn't seem to be alive. It was almost as if she was dead. She just stared at anyone who looked at her blankly, reflecting anything she sees. When Greed thought about it a bit more and compared the two different Liliths, the Lilith in the past could almost do nothing. What caused her to change?

He sighed and folded his arms behind his head as Lolita's head popped up unexpectedly out of the tall grass,

"Ah, there you are!" she cried triumphantly, almost sounding as if he was a needle in a haystack.

Greed looked at her lazily, "Congratulations. Would you like a prize for being able to find me in someone's 'garden'?" he said a bit too bluntly for Lolita's tastes, thus sending her wailing and blubbering to Dorchette.

He sighed as he stood up and brushed the dirt and grass from his trousers. There has to be something he could do. Knowing Edward, he probably was marching around town and with his luck, would have found some info already. When he looked over at where Dorchette was, a familiar person was walking up to the door, eyes widened at the sight of the trio.

Greenish-blue eyes frowned at the homunculus as Greed stared on blankly. Yeah, sure, the newcomer was familiar, but... Where exactly have they met...? The black wings and the almost pasty skin were familiar, but the homunculus seemed to have forgotten already.

"Greed... What are you doing here?" the young man growled.

The aforementioned homunculus blinked a few times and looked away, scratching his cheek absent-mindedly. Then he looked at the newcomer again and frowned, deep in thought. Then his eyebrows shot up in sudden realization as he pointed a finger at the purple-haired youth and announced, "Who are you?"

Everyone around him fell over, anime-style. The young man in the military uniform stood back up, scowling and half-screeched, "I'm RIN! My name isn't THAT long, is it?"

Again, Greed looked at Rin with the stupid blank look he had earlier on, "...Rin who?"

The poor alchemist was next seen sulking in the long grass...

_**-LATER, IN EVA'S HOUSE… - **_

Eva sat across of Rin at the dining table, both with a cup of tea set in front of them and both looking equally serious. Eva sighed after knowing what Rin wanted from her,

"For the umpteenth time, Aizawa... I do NOT want to become a State Alchemist. I don't like being tied to a leash, in case you haven't noticed," she said tiredly, taking a sip out of her cup.

"Eva, you have to understand. We need your alchemy skills to stop whoever is trying, or IS creating homunculi and the Philosopher's Stone. From the looks of things, it's beginning to resemble the Ishvar War from before. Don't tell me you have forgotten how many people have suffered. How many lives were lost."

The woman's eyes narrowed, "I haven't forgotten..."

"Then what's stopping you from preventing further suffering through these lands? You'd rather let another calamity-"

The sound of Eva's ceramic cup against its dish shut the winged alchemist up. Her eyes burned into his angrily as she fought to control her tone, "Rin, I understand what you mean. Too well, in fact. Unfortunately, my hands are full just being here. I have my own plans and for now, I'm sorry to say I do not want to include you in it..."

Rin narrowed his eyes to the female alchemist. He then stood up from the table, his tea untouched, "Apparently, it was wrong for me to come here in the first place... "He looked down at her from his standing position, to which she returned his glare out of the corners of her eyes.

"Yes, I believe so... Perhaps you'll have better luck elsewhere," she said flatly, raising her cup again to drain its last drops. With a swish of the blue coat he donned, Aizawa Rin stormed out of the house. When the door was slammed shut, Eva's tense muscles relaxed as she slumped in her seat, feeling a bit tired and sighed without knowing that the three that she locked outside had snuck inside while she spoke to Rin.

"Pretty rough stuff you got around here," Greed said quite off-handedly, sitting in Rin's empty seat and looking at Eva. She rubbed her temples and didn't bother looking at him,

"Leave me alone, homunculus..."

He mock-cringed, "Ooh, touchy..."

Eva glared at him, "What else do you want from me? I've been nice enough to help you make those fake Philosopher's Stones," she stood up and picked up the neglected book she left at the counter and walked off to her room, looking a bit upset.

Greed looked at her leave and idly flicked a napkin off of the table. He sighed and leant back in his seat. Eva had to hurry up with the Stones... Who knows when Freesia would snap again? At the moment, she was the only thing that he had in mind. She was becoming a threat, but most importantly, Greed felt as if she was going to slip away from his grasp. He claimed her as his, and he didn't want her to disappear.

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_**-ELSEWHERE-**_

Lilith skipped down the streets of Central almost happily, not even fearing any of her Ouroboros marks being exposed since the only ones that were visible was on the back of her left hand and in her left eye. And maybe the one on her tongue, if people bothered to look at her tongue at all. An unhappy Envy was with her as she turned around with her hands held behind her back innocently and looked up at him.

"...What?" Envy asked, looking down at the shorter, but more powerful homunculus with an eyebrow raised. She looked straight into his eyes a few moments longer and giggled,

"Your mind's wandering. Don't you like being with me?" she asked innocently. It was a pity she couldn't read minds because she was plenty curious and wanted to know what Envy was thinking about.

The green-haired homunculus huffed, "I haven't got any choice but come along, do I? Besides, you dragged me out here for no reason, what's up?"

Lilith pouted, "Oh, but I did tell you of my motives. That just comes to show that you weren't listening, " she skipped ahead a few paces and looked around, "Hmm... it's not here... It's somewhere else..." Lilith pondered, clasping her small hands in front of her and ambling along aimlessly.

Envy didn't quite like her. She was acting too smart for her own good and he couldn't shake the feeling that Dante purposely wanted him to look out for her. Again, Lilith stopped unexpectedly before him, "You're daydreaming," it was more of a statement than a question and the very Envy-like smirk she gave him made him frown,

"So what? I bet you daydream too. What do you want now?"

"...I want... the right hand of destruction..." she said mistily as they passed by a stall on the street, "The stones it has... I want it..." she giggled to herself, as if finding whatever she just said amusing. The gleam in her eyes were unnerving and Envy didn't like it. It was unlike him to be afraid of something way smaller than he was and being afraid of Lilith, to him, was ridiculous. And she mentioned 'the right hand of destruction'. Could it be that Ishvarite man who was the mass-murderer?

After thinking about it for a bit more and seeing Lilith 'play' with a bird that had perched on her shoulder, Envy couldn't help but pity whoever was to cross her path.

Lilith stopped, dropping the remains of the bird in her hands and stood very still.

"...What is it?" Envy asked, but Lilith didn't answer. She merely glared at him, as if daring him to make another sound. The green-haired homunculus shut up as soon as they made eye contact.

The smaller homunculus stayed in her statue-like position for a moment longer before looking around at the ground, "...It's moving... Somewhere quite far from us..." she paused for a moment and smirked, "But not so far that we can't find it..." she turned to a particular direction and ran to the nearest alley, where Envy was forced to follow, only to find that she had shape-shifted into a particularly fast domestic cat. There was no doubt that she knew where to find her 'food'. And the chase led her to a shanty town on the outskirts of Central.

"It's here..." Lilith said, almost dreamily as she shifted back into herself. Smoothing her skirt out, she clambered up a rock, only to realize that she had to shape-shift again to make her journey easier.

"Hey, wait!" Envy called, but Lilith had already disappeared. The sin of envy muttered a few curses under his breath as he was forced to follow her. However, he stopped when he heard a familiar voice calling out to him. Envy turned around and saw a familiar face coming over to him, "Melody..." he stared, wide-eyed at the alchemist.

The red-head stopped a few meters away from him, catching her breath, "Have you seen Marcus?? I lost him somewhere here," she said quickly, looking very flustered.

Envy raised an eyebrow at her, "What are you talking about?? I just lost the person I'm supposed to baby-sit myself!" he cried, almost ready to tear his hair out. Speaking of which, he whirled around and jumped up a pile of rubble to see if Lilith was anywhere in sight. There wasn't even a trace of the black dress that she donned. The sin of envy cursed under his breath again, "Melody, you said Marcus was somewhere here, right?" he asked, turning to look at the red-headed alchemist.

She nodded, "Yeah... I heard that some Ishvarite people live around here, so I'm kind of worried..."

"...Believe me, there are other things you ought to be more worried of than just them... Come on, I'll help you find your li'l brother if you'll help me with mine."

Melody looked dumbfounded, "You have a younger brother?"

Envy could kick himself for not making himself more specific, "Uhm... No, but let's just say I was supposed to keep an eye on her..."

"Oh, a younger sister! How nice!"

...This was going to be a long day...

Nearby

Marcus was lost. He was surrounded by people with red eyes and that meant only one thing; he was in the outskirts of town, with ISHVARITES. The little chimera walked around a little more, just about ready to burst into tears for losing his sister along the way. Just around the corner, Lilith seemed to have lost track of the scent she had caught earlier on and was just taking in the sights. Having Envy's ability to shape-shift, it wasn't much of a difficulty for her to just change her skin color to blend in the crowd.

Just as their luck would have wanted it, they bumped into each other and both their first impulses were to slice each other's throats open until... "...You're lost too, aren't you?" Lilith asked, raising an eyebrow at the close-to-tears chimera.

She may not appear to be the most assuring person to be with, but it didn't look like she was going to kill him anytime soon. As a matter of fact, to Marcus, she appeared to be like any other Ishvarite girl. Young, almost harmless and considerate. He nodded.

"Haha, that's a coincidence. I'm kind of lost myself," Lilith picked herself up from the ground and brushed some dust off of her skirt and helped Marcus up to his feet, "Don't most chimeras talk?" she suddenly asked.

Marcus looked taken aback at that. He didn't want to admit it, but though he appeared to be physically complete, internally, he had a few defects. Now he wasn't implying that Melody sucked at what she did with him, but he couldn't deny the fact that the incomplete transmutation robbed him of his ability to speak, replacing the vocabulary in his brain with mere grunts and whining sounds. Biting his lower lip and trying to appear pensive, he nodded again.

Lilith understood what he wanted to say, surprising herself when she got considerate enough to drop the subject, "Hey, let's go and try to find a way out. The person I got here with is probably really angry at me right now," she smiled, very much like she would as Freesia and took Marcus' hand as they walked off.

The little chimera didn't know how to respond to that, so he just followed the little girl whom he didn't know was a homunculus.

Meanwhile...

Melody tried as much as possible to shrug off the stares she was getting from the dark-skinned tribes people as both she and Envy whisked past a few more makeshift homes in the hopes of finding Lilith and Marcus.

The situation was kind of tense, so Melody decided to start a conversation, "So... is there any particular article of clothing I should look out for?"

Envy shrugged, "Something black," 'Provided she hadn't gone and shape-shifted...' he muttered inwardly as he continued to look around, "What about Marcus? Any easy way to find him?"

"Hmm..." Melody slowed down in her brisk walk, thinking, "Usually he'll come after me if I call him..."

Before Melody could continue to talk, Envy had already cupped his hands on either sides of his mouth and called the chimera's name. OUT LOUD. Melody jumped when he yelled for the chimera and turned as red as her hair even when she put her hands over the homunculus' mouth, "What do you think you're doing? You're embarrassing the both of us!"

The green-haired Edward Elric look-alike pried her hands off of his face and whirled around to look at her, "What does it look like? I'm helping out and you just had to go and try to cut off my air supply!"

"I did no such thing! I was sparing us the embarrassment!"

"Oh yeah? So it wouldn't bother you now that we're bickering like a pair of kids and those people just can't stop staring at how childish we are?" Envy countered with a smirk, motioning to the nearby Ishvarite, who were indeed staring at them.

Melody blushed scarlet again and walked off, dragging Envy with her by the ear and trying as much as possible to remain calm and collected despite Envy yelling at her to let go behind her. This was definitely going to be a long day...

However, somewhere behind the duo and out of sight, a pair of red eyes were watching them, the dim lighting illuminating the scar on the person's face ever so slightly...

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Haha!!! I'm back! ...WITH A CRAPPY CHAP!

I have nothing to say. I'm just hoping you all still enjoy reading my work.


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